Towards an anthropology of relevance: An intercultural dialogue between Schutz and Nishida
Final Report Abstract
The project aimed to develop the foundations of a philosophical anthropology of “relevance” which analyzes our experience and action as constituted by a two-sided dynamic. On the one hand, human life proceeds continuously, following the “closed” paths of, e.g., typical expectations, personal habits, socially or technically standardized procedures. On the other hand, human life is open to concrete situations and individuals, unfamiliar aspects, or novel problems and solutions. Only both sides together determine what becomes “relevant” here and now. Nevertheless, the debate is still dominated across disciplines by models that treat the first side of human life, its continuity, as fundamental. Such approaches cannot plausibly explain why we can access the fullness of the world beyond established meaning patterns. In contrast, the project stressed the independence of the second side, an “openness” which is “active” in the sense that it does not depend on external triggers or impositions but acts as a momentum within experience and action itself that overrides “closed” patterns. Everyday phenomena such as curiosity, spontaneity, humor, restlessness, fear, or boredom are only striking expressions of an openness that invariably shapes our relationship to the world and ourselves. Assuming a cultural dimension to the neglect of human openness in “Western” traditions, the project used the theoretical lens of an “intercultural dialogue” between philosophers Alfred Schutz and Kitarō Nishida to examine the flurry of research into “relevance” done around 1930. Despite difficulties caused by the corona pandemic that coincided with the project, the assumptions were confirmed, and additional insights were gained, paving the way for future research. The intercultural dialogue was expanded by Helmuth Plessner, who, around 1930, made the most decisive attempt so far to reflect human openness within the European tradition emanating from Kant, thus building a bridge to Nishida, who uses Buddhist resources to conceive of openness in a radical way. Furthermore, within human experience and action, action was found to be central. A pragmatically re-oriented relevance theory has to date been developed in three directions. An examination of human meaning-making as an open practice helps formulate a phenomenologically grounded solution to the problem of relevance in modern semiotics. Ethical and political consequences can be drawn from the connection between knowledge and decision-making in society. Finally, a self-reflection of doing philosophy as an instance of action provides the foundation for an advanced epistemology. The project yielded five papers so far; further publications are being prepared.
Publications
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Kant and the Scandal of Intersubjectivity: Alfred Schutz’s Anthropology of Transcendence. Palgrave Handbooks in German Idealism, 131-152. Springer International Publishing.
Strassheim, Jan
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Neoliberalism and Post-Truth: Expertise and the Market Model. Theory, Culture & Society, 40(6), 107-124.
Strassheim, Jan
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Relevance as the Moving Ground of Semiosis. Philosophies, 7(5), 115.
Strassheim, Jan
