Doomed to Misapprehension, Aren’t We?

Schützian Reflection on Shared Knowledge, Intersubjectivity and Embodied Experience

Abstract

This paper develops a phenomenologically informed account of how different modes of lived experience – labelled here as outlooker, dweller, and veteran – shape concept formation and intersubjective understanding in modern, heterogeneous societies. Building on Alfred Schütz’s phenomenological sociology, the paper argues that inherited typifications provide the foundation for communication and social coordination; yet, embodied, first-hand experiences continually transform these shared meanings. The typology offered by the author explains when and why shared meanings may fragment, producing misunderstandings and failures of recognition, and which roles society, companions and contemporaries, and individuals themselves play in the co-creation of mutual understanding.