Date: 14 Mar 2002 16:04:00 -0600
Subject: Re: HAB: re: Lifeworld (Bill, #85)



Content-Type:text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Gary, 

What I meant, and probably should have said, was, why introduce a term 
that refers to something we can't know anyway?  We know "hope", because 
"hope" is a non-technical term that we employ in everyday speech.  I 
suppose we (most of us) know "electron" because we learned it in school, 
and it helps us understand some things we encounter everyday, namely, 
physical objects and electricity. "Lifeworld" is a relatively new 
technical term, not widely used in any case, and, I think, elusive.  I 
am not a materialist.  These thoughts were behind my question about why 
Habermas uses the term, which I was attempting to answer in the 
remainder of the post.

I agree with your brief genealogy, but I don't follow when you write 
"The notion urges itself on theoretical understanding in direct 
proportion to a concern for the individuality or identity of 
interaction, especially regarding the historicity of interaction, which 
is always already a *life* historicality."

Thanks,

Bill


content-type:message/rfc822

Date: 14 Mar 2002 15:34:14
From:Gary E Davis <gary-AT-gedavis.com>
To:habermas-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
Subject:HAB: re: Lifeworld (Bill, #85)
Reply-to:habermas-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu 
Return-Path:<owner-habermas-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
Received:from mail.virginia.edu (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mailman.hccs.cc.tx.us (8.11.6/8.11.0) with SMTP id g2ELXNn16171 for <HORD_B-AT-hccs.cc.tx.us>; Thu, 14 Mar 2002 15:33:23 -0600 (CST)
Received:from lists.village.virginia.edu by mail.virginia.edu id aa13445; 14 Mar 2002 16:35 EST
Received:(from domo-AT-localhost) by lists.village.Virginia.EDU (8.9.3/8.9.0) id QAA16528 for habermas-outgoing; Thu, 14 Mar 2002 16:34:54 -0500 (EST)
X-Authentication-Warning:lists.village.Virginia.EDU: domo set sender to owner-habermas-AT-localhost using -f
Received:from web13001.mail.yahoo.com (web13001.mail.yahoo.com [216.136.174.11]) by lists.village.Virginia.EDU (8.9.3/8.9.0) with SMTP id QAA16521 for <habermas-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>; Thu, 14 Mar 2002 16:34:50 -0500 (EST)
Message-ID:<20020314213414.21466.qmail-AT-web13001.mail.yahoo.com>
Received:from [162.119.64.100] by web13001.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Thu, 14 Mar 2002 13:34:14 PST
In-Reply-To:<200203142112.PAA27956-AT-hccs.cc.tx.us>
Sender:owner-habermas-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
Precedence: bulk
Content-Type:text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Bill:

I think your comments are useful--not an imposition at all.
But since they're directed to Matt's comments (which I've
already replied to), I want to only reply to a question of
yours, that you didn't seek to answer:


--- Bill Hord <HORD_B-AT-hccs.cc.tx.us> wrote:

>...why would we introduce a term [i.e., 'lifeworld'] that 
> refers to something that we can't see or touch anyway? 

Obviously, much of language is about intangibles. What is
hope? What is an electron?

> Doing so only invites confusion. 

Not "only" in any way--not even significantly, maybe. The
fact that interpretation is called for (the upshot message
of your posting) bears no weight against intangibility of
dennotation in communication. Contextual cues of
language-in-use settle most ambiguities; overt interpretive
interaction (e.g., getting clarifications) settles most
questionable cases. 

>....So, I think a good approach would be to ask, what 
> motivates Habermas to adopt the concept of lifeworld?

I suppose you know that JH inherits the notion from Dilthey
(indirectly), Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, and Schutz (all
directly). The notion urges itself on theoretical
understanding in direct proportion to a concern for the
individuality or identity of interaction, especially
regarding the historicity of interaction, which is always
already a *life* historicality. 

I suppose you agree. 

For the good of the order,

Gary




__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Sports - live college hoops coverage
http://sports.yahoo.com/


     --- from list habermas-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---




     --- from list habermas-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---