Normalität als Grundphänomen des Lebens. Versuch einer phänomenologischen Annäherung

Abstract

Normality as a Fundamental Phenomenon of Life. An Attempt at a Phenomenological Approach - - - In the present article, we attempt to show that Husserl’s notion of life should be characterized by an inherent normativity at every level. In this regard, we can also differentiate between normality—as a more encompassing concept—and normativity—as a specific concept—, but the focus of our study is on normativity, which is a narrower notion. We attempt to distinguish and analyze the main types of normativity in Husserl’s texts. In the discussions regarding the most important levels of normativity, we essentially rely on Anthony Steinbock’s considerations, according to whom one can separate four fundamental types of normativity: accordance, optimality, typical normativity, and home or home-world (Heimwelt). The subsequent crucial point of our investigations is to show that the main levels of normativity have a different order in rational, self-aware beings, on the one hand, and in non-rational beings without self-consciousness, on the other. Finally, we try to demonstrate that there exists a principal connection between affectivity and normativity, and that affectivity has a decisive role in the constitution of different forms of normativity.

Keywords

• edmund husserl
• philosophy of life
• normativity
• affectivity