This book shows how phenomenology of the social sciences differs from positivistic approaches. Includes Schutz's theory of relevances, his critique of T.S. Eliot's theory of culture, and an ethnographic description of the diary of his first visit to the U.S.

This text draws together several, formerly scattered key texts of Alfred Schutz, the foremost phenomenologist to bring phenomenology to bear on the social sciences. Contains Schutz' letters, many of them selected and translated for the first time, corresponding with other significant social scientists and philosophers. Reveals new sides of Schutz in the Eliot essay.

Autorentext
Alfred Schütz, geboren 1899 in Wien - soziologischer Klassiker und bedeutender Phänomenologe, Studium in Wien Rechts- und Staatswissenschaften. Arbeit dann - bald leitend - für verschiedene Banken. 1932 erste Buchveröffentlichung. 1938/39 Emigration über Paris nach New York, wo er weiterhin für ein Wiener Bankhaus arbeitet. Ab 1944 Lehrtätigkeit an der New School of Social Research. Weitere Publikationen, u. a. auch sozialwissenschaftliche Aufsätze. Der Autor verstarb 1959 in New York.

Klappentext

This volume begins with Schutz's sketch of how Husserl influenced him. It shows how phenomenological theory of the social sciences differs from positivistic approaches, and presents Schutz's theory of relevances--a key feature of his own phenomenology of the social world. It contains exchanges between Schutz and Eric Voegelin, Felix Kaufmann, Aron Gurwitsch, and Talcott Parsons, and presents, for the first time, Schutz's incisive criticisms of T.S. Eliot's theory of culture.

Inhalt
Editorial Introduction.- Husserl and His Influence on Me.- Choice and the Social Sciences.- The Theory of Social Action: Correspondence between Alfred Schutz and Talcott Parsons.- Reflections on the Problem of Relevance.- Outlines on Relevance and Action.- T. S. Eliot's Theory of Culture.- Letters of Schutz to Felix Kaufmann.- Letters of Schutz to Gurwitsch.- Letters of Schutz to Voegelin.