HOW TO PACK THE LEBENSWELT INTO A BLACK BOX: ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS

Abstract

This paper proposes a way to de-transcendentalize the concept of the life-world (Lebenswelt), which is a phenomenological term for basic, pre-theoretical, intersubjective knowledge. The aim is to arrive at a conception that shows the decisive influence of the material background over the life-world. A critical examination of Don Ihde’s phenomenology indicates that the method of phenomenological reflection does not capture the influence of technologies in shaping the life-world and is restricted to the final stages of that shaping. The tools of science and technology studies (STS) are needed for de- transcendentalizing the concept of the life-world. Jurgen Habermas’s concept of the life-world is best suited to this task because it is quite consistent with the methodological requirements of STS and is least burdened by its phenomenological heritage. Nevertheless, some transcendentalist presuppositions are retained in the Habermas concept. These presuppositions are connected with the distinction between goal-oriented actions and communicative and strategic ones. Actor-network theory (ANT) methodology permits a reformulation of that distinction. First, the paper shows the similarity of ANT’s notion of the black box to Habermas’s concept of the life-world. Second, this paper formulates a conception for shaping the life-world which is consistent with ANT’s methodological requirements. Negotiation, which denotes the process of forming a black box by reducing the heterogeneity of multiple actors to one simple device or statement, is the key concept. In this way, the paper constructs a new theory of communication and the life-world free from the transcendentalist presuppositions that have undermined every concept of the life-world from Husserl to Habermas.