Lifeworld

This paper is a phenomenological critique of some of the basic notions informing much of the researchin and practice of science education (SE) today. It is suggested that the philosophical grounds of S Eare in need of three “reversals of primacy”: the ontological primacy of the perceptual lifeworld must replace that of abstract scientific models; the epistemological primacy of attentive practice must replace that of conceptual cognition; and the pedagogical primacy of cultivating competencies must replace that of imparting ready-made knowledge. Four arguments for a phenomenological approach to SE are presented and some consequences for the training of science teachers are discussed; some of which are already being implemented at the science teacher education of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.

Background: Infants born with long-gap esophageal atresia (LGEA) pose unique physiologic risks in the newborn period. Anatomic and physiologic anomalies require an extended hospitalization with procedural analgesia and sedation that impact the mother's experience of birth, maternal response, and nurturing of her infant. Purpose: The aim of this study was to understand the meaning of experiences that mothers of infants born with LGEA encounter in the neonatal intensive care unit while their infant undergoes esophageal repair. Methods: A hermeneutical phenomenological design was used to guide this inquiry. Three mothers were interviewed on 3 separate occasions. The conversations were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The findings were analyzed using fundamental existential lifeworld themes. Results: The essence that conceptualized the study was “making connections: day-by-day.” Themes that emerged are (a) the many phases; (b) the long and winding road; (c) a new me, my purp...

The article asks what is the significance of language for the viability of an endemic mixed legal system. The analysis applies the ecological conceptualisation of endemism and explains how invasive species colonise an endemic mixed system. It is argued that the process of displacing takes place in a manner similar to the process of colonisation of the lifeworld as explained in Habermas’ theory of communicative action. It is also argued that a socio-linguistic infrastructure is needed to ensure the use of minority legal language under the influence of the surrounding bigger legal culture. The argument is tested with four illustrative cases allowing theory building. The cases addressed are Hong Kong, Scotland, Quebec, and Louisiana. The article concludes that language itself is not the cause of legal cultural colonisation. Language, if common to both a smaller and a bigger legal culture, is the medium through which invasive legal species are carried.

In the wave of Umberto Eco's oppositional binomial Dictionary-Encyclopedia, the paper aims to apply the rhizomatic system to the practical case of the (ethno)racial lexicon as a broad semantic area of the word race, which previously involved both physical predisposition and cultural habits. Given its critical issues, the dictionarial approach is distinguished into two different stages, intradictionarial (properly dictionarial) and inter-dictionarial (resulting from the metaphorical chain of meanings). Originally, race referred to horses (stud and herds) and property (as ownership and essential attribute), which extended metonymically to other sensesgeneral zoological-botanic, human (lineage, offspring) and typological qualitative ones. Comparing its correspondents in Romance and Germanic languages, reference to many different contexts and a continuous misalignment between lexeme and concept emerge. The liquidity within the semantic sphere of race (embracing the three semantic cores racial, ethnic, and typological) can be explained by taking a phenomenological and semiotic perspective. If the ethnic sense (people, nation, etc.) is connected to a socio-cultural Lifeworld in an interplay of identities and differences, the aporia of synonymy emerging from the inter-dictionarial analysis finds its balance in the local encyclopedic approach, which proves to be the real deterrent to Porphyry's tree through the rhizome, conceived not in its entirety, but in the partiality and contingency of its branches.

This article delves into the pressing challenges confronting liberal democracies in Western Europe as they grapple with managing religious diversity, with a specific focus on Muslim minorities. Historically, the secularization paradigm has been at the forefront of managing such diversity; however, its intrinsic limitations become increasingly evident in the context of super-diversity, underscoring the need for a paradigmatic shift toward post-secularization. Central to this discourse are the nuanced concepts of “culturalization of religion” and “religionization of culture”, which illuminate the disparities in treatment between majority and minority religious groups. The article identifies three endogenous limitations intrinsic to liberal democracies: the contested nature of state neutrality vis-à-vis religion and belief, the implementation of this principle through non-neutral judicial tools, and the historically and culturally laden context within which the principle of neutrality ...

This paper is a phenomenological critique of some of the basic notions informing much of the researchin and practice of science education (SE) today. It is suggested that the philosophical grounds of S Eare in need of three “reversals of primacy”: the ontological primacy of the perceptual lifeworld must replace that of abstract scientific models; the epistemological primacy of attentive practice must replace that of conceptual cognition; and the pedagogical primacy of cultivating competencies must replace that of imparting ready-made knowledge. Four arguments for a phenomenological approach to SE are presented and some consequences for the training of science teachers are discussed; some of which are already being implemented at the science teacher education of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.

This short study explores the lived experiences of two plurilingual pupils of West African heritage (Ivory Coast), focusing upon the role they perceived languages and cultures have played in shaping aspects of their identities. Two 19 years-old female pupils were interviewed and the data was analysed using qualitative thematic analysis. Adopting a phenomenological perspective, key concepts of the Lifeworld (spatiality, temporality, embodiment and intersubjectivity) were also used as part of the heuristic process. Three overarching themes were identified in the participants’ narratives: ‘language and empowerment’, ‘Feeling stigmatised as foreign’ and ‘Feeling divided, on the wrong side of the fence’. Participants generally expressed a positive attitude towards plurilingualism, a desire to maintain and expand their linguistic skills as a means to increase their life choices. While the impact of European languages acquired through schooling or migration was perceived as overwhelmingly ...

Aims and objectivesTo explore the perspectives of patients and health professionals on facilitators and barriers to care in a diabetes clinic in urban South Africa.BackgroundAlthough much attention has been given to the science behind diabetes management, a qualitative approach to exploring experiences, facilitators and barriers to care may have considerable value in understanding and improving diabetes care.DesignWe conducted a qualitative study in the context of a 3‐year collaboration at a diabetes clinic. The present study formed part of the preparatory phase to the larger project.MethodsLinguistically and culturally matched research assistants collected data over a period of 18 months. Methods included interviews, focus groups, ethnographic observations and informal discussions with 38 patients and health professionals. Data from each participant group were transcribed, translated and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis principles and thereafter triangulated. The Standard...

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 30(1), 2011, pp. 165-170 In this article, the authors examine a world in which a human being is so completely embedded in her or his “life-world,” as Husserl would have it, that psyche can, in the end, sustain no life apart from its surroundings. There is a Japanese brand of language, an early language but still preserved, that produces and inheres in images in which subject and object, human and landscape, conjoin rather than separate. Some of this conjoining would match Merleau-Ponty’s description of a world in which humans are “flesh of the world’s flesh”:

Habermas's (1984/1989) Theory of Communicative Action pro- vides distinct advantages for considering both the evolving char- acter of surveillance within the context of late capitalism, and related changes to human subjectivity and culture. In particular, the concepts systems, lifeworld and colonization may be em- ployed to identify key threats to democratic life within informa- tion-based, consumer-driven societies. Many recent social theo- retical approaches to the study of surveillance emphasize the entanglement of human subjectivity with "electronic language" and computer-based practices of personal data gathering and profiling. One result is that conscious, embodied, human subjects are often not treated as potentially significant agents of progres- sive social change. Alternatively, Habermas makes a methodo- logical distinction between the impersonal workings of adminis- trative and economic systems, and the lifeworld of communally shared experience. This allows ...

Aims and objectivesTo explore and describe the experience of eating and eating‐related difficulties in stroke survivors living at home.BackgroundThe ability to consume food and to take pleasure in eating is an essential part of life. For people with stroke, eating difficulties are frequent. A phenomenological perspective of stroke survivors' experience of eating difficulties exceeding the acute stroke event and in‐hospital rehabilitation is missing.DesignA qualitative study founded on the Husslarian descriptive phenomenology.MethodsColaizzi's seven phases of data analysis provided a systematic approach to explore 17 in‐depth interviews from seven participants and how eating difficulties influenced their daily lives.ResultsEating difficulties revealed themselves in participants' relationship with the outer world in far‐reaching disruptions of habits, capacities and actions. Four key themes illuminating the eating difficulties emerged: (1) preserving dignity by not conveyi...

Introduction: Mandated restrictions on outdoor physical activity (PA) during the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the lifeworld of millions of people and led to a contradictory situation. On the one hand, PA was perceived as risky behaviour, as it might facilitate transmission of the virus. On the other hand, while taking precautions, regular PA was an important tool to promote the population's health during the lockdown.Methods: This paper examines the differences in government restrictions on PA in France, Germany, and Italy during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. We draw on techniques of qualitative content analysis and apply a critical theoretical framework to assess the countries' restrictions on PA.Results: Our analysis shows that the restrictions on PA varied in the three countries, in all three countries. This variance is attributed both to differences in the timing and severity of the pandemic in the countries analysed, as well as to the divergence in the rela...

Forthcoming in Mythical Totalities: Studies in the Philosophy of Mythology, ed. G. Moss (Mohr Siebeck, 2024): 205–224

This contribution considers the relation between myth and phenomenology, and contends that there is a positive mythopoetic moment concerning "nature" (qua totality of reality) at the heart of phenomenology. (1) Smyth first outline how the question concerning nature and myth emerges from within phenomenology in general methodological terms concerning the analysis of the horizonal intentionality of the lifeworld, and how this points toward a normatively-oriented generative understanding of phenomenology. (2) Drawing especially on the work of Hans Blumenberg, Smyth then clarifies, in terms of "significance," the epistemic character of myth as an ineliminable sui generis feature of experience in general, and shows that the relevant generativity concerning the lifeworld coincides with the mythopoetic "work on myth" that Blumenberg identified as an essential aspect of mythic experience. (3) Smyth then considers an argument by Steven Crowell, which is directed against phenomenology adopting a mythic view of nature as opposed to the Enlightenment ideal of disenchanted meaninglessness. Replying to this argument will serve to confirm the appropriateness of a generative approach, and that the decisive factor to consider is the normativity of the projected sense of nature. (4) Smyth then concludes with some brief remarks concerning the stakes involved in the rapprochement with myth to which phenomenology as a critical philosophical project is methodologically committed.

AimTo describe lifeworld insights into the phenomenon of caring responsibility from the perspectives of persons aged 80+ years living alone with chronic illness, physical frailty and dependency on adult children.DesignA phenomenological inquiry inspired by Reflective Lifeworld Research.MethodSemi‐structured lifeworld interviews with 11 persons aged 80+ years were conducted following their discharge. The interviews lasted 35–83 min, were audio‐recorded and transcribed verbatim. Both interviews and the analysis followed the epistemological and methodological principles of Reflective Lifeworld Research.FindingsWe identified the essential meaning ‘It means everything’ and four constituents illuminating different aspects inherent in the complex phenomenon of caring responsibility; ‘A life‐constraining transition,’ ‘Trusting the children to fill the gaps and be the glue,’ ‘Tacit responsibility, agreement and acceptance’ and ‘Depending on the children and knowing they are burdened by you.’...

This article examines the intersection of capitalism, patriarchy, and feminist theory through the lens of Heideggerian philosophy, particularly focusing on the concept of "First-Order Erschlossenheit" (unreflective world disclosure). The author argues that capitalism is not merely an economic ideology, but an ontological framework that fundamentally shapes our understanding of being and reinforces patriarchal structures. Drawing on Martin Heidegger's ideas of "thrownness" (Geworfenheit) and world disclosure (Erschlossenheit), as well as Nikolas Kompridis' work on crisis and critique, the paper explores how capitalist ideology influences our perception of success and gender roles. The article contends that the modern corporate world embodies a form of "Technological/Professional Being" that is inherently masculine and perpetuates patriarchal norms, even as women increasingly participate in it. It critiques the notion of "corporate feminism" as an ineffective means of challenging these structures, arguing instead that true equality requires a fundamental reimagining of our mode of Being in the world. The author suggests that overcoming patriarchy necessitates moving beyond capitalist Technological/Professional modes of existence and calls for a "refocusing" or "de-centering" of our collective knowledge of Being to reshape our understanding of the world.

This paper explores the pervasive theme of colonial oppression, violence and their cyclical nature in Doris Lessing’s Martha Quest, (1952) first of the series of five novels in the Children of Violence (1969). Lessing uses her literary prowess to dissect the complexities of human behavior and societal dynamics through the lens of her protagonist, Martha Quest. This cyclical nature of colonial violence manifests not only physically but also as an insidious psychological inheritance, shaping the characters’ lives and decisions. The analysis focuses on Lessing’s portrayal of the inevitability of violence in human affairs, highlighting the continuous struggle for personal autonomy amidst external conflicts and internal turmoil. The quest for meaning in a fractured world becomes a central motif as characters seek solace and understanding in a world marred by violence and chaos. The paper highlights Lessing’s profound insights into the human condition and the persistent shadow of colonial violence in modern history. The study ultimately aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of Lessing’s work and its relevance to contemporary discussions on violence, identity, and historical memory.