Abstract

In contemporary philosophy, many attempts were made to rehabilitate the everyday. However, such a reappraisal of the everyday is ambivalent, as it tends to objectify what is profoundly elusive due to its diffuse, ambient character. The two prevailing strategies (the ,celebration‘ of the everyday and the ,critique‘ of the everyday) both miss the everyday because they treat it as a positive entity. Whether by celebrating or by understanding it – in both cases they kill it. This article argues that part of the problem lies in the objectifying bias inherent in these approaches and sketches an alternative phenomenological approach, which suggests that the character of the everydayness first and foremost lies in its ,backgroundness‘ (Hintergründigkeit).