Phenomenological psychology and schizophrenia as explored by Erwin Strauss.

Abstract

This paper is concerned with an attempt to return to the earliest principles of the phenomenological method by exploring the psychology of Erwin Strauss, with particular reference to his studies of schizophrenia. Strauss's analysis of the peculiarly subjective relationship between the schizophrenic and the no-longer-neutral outside world is particularly investigated with specific reference to the physiognomic quality of everyday experience. It is suggested that the existential categories utilized in this method can offer an additional perspective in the attempt to explore the world of the schizophrenic; particularly in understanding his idiosyncratic fears and his autistic I-world interpretation.