The Phenomenological Approach to Social Reality: History, Concepts, Problems

This volume features fourteen essays that examine the works of key figures within the phenomenological movement in a clear and accessible way. It presents the fertile, groundbreaking, and unique aspects of phenomenological theorizing against the background of contemporary debate about social ontology and collective intentionality.

The expert contributors explore the insights of such thinkers as Martin Heidegger, Edmund Husserl, Adolf Reinach, and Max Scheler. Readers will also learn about other sources that, although almost wholly neglected by historians of philosophy, testify to the vitality of the phenomenological tradition. In addition, the contributions highlight the systematic relevance of phenomenological research by pinpointing its position on social ontology and collective intentionality within the history of philosophy.

By presenting phenomenological contributions in a scholarly yet accessible way, this volume introduces an interesting and important perspective into contemporary debate insofar as it bridges the gap between the analytical and the continental traditions in social philosophy. The volume provides readers with a deep understanding into such questions as: What does it mean to share experiences with others? What does it mean to share emotions with friends or to share intentions with partners in a joint endeavor? What are groups? What are institutional facts like money, universities, and cocktail parties? What are values and what role do values play in social reality?

Introduction; Alessandro Salice, Hans Bernhard Schmid.- Part I Social and Institutional Facts.- Chapter 1. Persons and Acts - Collective And Social. From Ontology to Politics; Kevin Mulligan.- Chapter 2. Legal Reality and its A Priori Foundations - a Question of Acting or Interpreting? Felix Kaufmann, Fritz Schreier and Their Critique of Adolf Reinach; Sophie Loidolt.- Chapter 3. Czeslaw Znamierowski's Social Ontology and its Phenomenological Roots; Giuseppe Lorini, Wojciech Zelaniec.- Chapter 4. Early Heidegger on Social Reality; Jo-Jo Koo.- Chapter 5. Karl Loewith's Understanding of Sociality; Gerhard Tonhauser.- Part II Doing Things Together.- Chapter 6. Husserl on Collective Intentionality; Thomas Szanto.- Chapter 7. The Varieties of Togetherness: Scheler on Collective Affective Intentionality; Matthias Schlossberger.- Chapter 8. Communal Feelings and Implicit Self-Knowledge. Hermann Schmalenbach on the Nature of the Social Bond; Hans Bernhard Schmid.- Chapter 9. Phenomenology of Experiential Sharing: The Contribution of Schutz and Walther; Felipe Leon and Dan Zahavi.- Part III The Values and Ontological Status of Social Reality.- Chapter 10. Communities and Values. Dietrich von Hildebrand's Social Ontology; Alessandro Salice.- Chapter 11. Ingarden's "material-value" conception of socio-cultural reality; Edward Swiderski.- Chapter 12. A Priori of the Law and Values in the Social Ontology of Wilhelm Schapp and Adolf Reinach; Francesca De Vecchi.- Chapter 13. Disenchanting the Fact/Value Dichotomy: A Critique of Felix Kaufmann's Views on Value and Social Reality; Sonja Rinofner.- Chapter 14. The Actuality of States and Other Social Groups. Tomoo Otaka's Transcendental Project? Genki Uemura, Toru Yaegashi.