George Psathas

The Study of Talk-in-Interaction

Conversation Analysis

Alfred Schutz

M. Endress

H. Nasu

This book is intended as a celebration of the legacy of Alfred Schutz in honor of the 100th anniversary of the year of his birth in 1999. It represents the contributions of a number of Schutzian scholars from the United States, Europe and Asia who have reflected on the significance of Schutz's work for philosophy and the human sciences for many years. Their work was first presented at international conferences held at Waseda University, Japan, March, 1999, the University of Konstanz, Germany, May 1999, and at the meetings of the Society for Phenomenology and the Human Sciences at the University of Oregon, USA, October, 1999. The editors were organizers of these conferences. These contributions trace connections and continuities with other major theorists and scholars ranging from Max Weber to Talcott Parsons and Pierre Bourdieu; to assessments of his contributions to methodology and social theory; to ethics and the political sphere; to his appeal in fields beyond philosophy, as well as to his wide-ranging explorations of the life-world. Schutz's legacy continues to be found in various places in the human sciences and philosophy and in the intersections of these disciplines. These papers contribute to the on-going dialogue and assessment of Schutz's corpus of work and to fresh appraisals of the continuing relevance of his work.

Continuing Dialogues with Alfred Schutz

Explorations of the Life-World

This anthology originated from three conferences, which were held at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, on March 26-28, 1999, at the Univ- sity of Konstanz, Germany, on May 26-29, 1999 and a session at the SPHS annual meeting at the University of Oregon, USA, on October 5-7, 1999. With one exception the contributions to this volume are revised versions of papers read at these meetings. Each of these conferences took place in order to celebrate the centennial of the birthday of Alfred Schutz, who was born April 13, 1899, and died May 20, 1959. First of all we would like to thank Evelyn Schutz-Lang, the daughter of Alfred and Ilse Schutz, for her continuing support and encouragement. Moreover, Evelyn Schutz-Lang as well as Claudia Schutz, the gr- daughter of Alfred and Ilse Schutz, and the daughter of his son George, gave us the honor of visiting the Konstanz conference in 1999. Evelyn also came to the Oregon conference and sent her personal greetings to those attending the Tokyo conference. We would like to thank Waseda University, the Waseda Sociological Association, the Waseda University International Conference Center, and the Center for Research in Human Sciences in Japan for their generous financial support, as well as the German Research Council (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), the University of Konstanz, the Alfred Schutz Memorial Archives in Konstanz, and the Sparkasse Konstanz for their considerable financial assistance in making the conferences possible.

Gary Backhaus

This edited volume presents the life and thought of Kurt H. Wolff, a Jewish refugee from Darmstadt, a student of Karl Mannheim, practitioner of the sociology of knowledge, translator of the classic works of Simmel, Durkheim, and Mannheim, and creator of the radical existential sociology of surrender-and-catch, through multiple modalities. Two interviews provide an autobiographical portrait. Testimonies by close family members, friends, and colleagues allow the reader a more intimate insight into his subjectivity. Excerpts from a travelogue journal kept by his spouse, Carla E. Wolff provide an understanding of how the Wolff's interpreted their situation and times. Several chapters devoted to explicating Wolff's place in the sociological tradition, especially in light of his work in the sociology of knowledge. Several chapters exhibit creative work in the further development of his thought, especially concerning his surrender-and-catch. The thrust of the book is to explicate Wolff's relation to the tradition and to the orientation to which he belongs while at the same time to exhibit how he develops a sociology of radical commitment. This commitment can demand great existential risk in the quest to uncover the universal in the unique-the creation of new meaning (the catch) though the surrender. Wolff's hope is to find possibilities for humankind that lead us out of the crises, to which traditional scientia has been disappointingly ineffective.

George Psathas

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