Abstract

Husserl treats the concept and the problem of ›life-world‹ (›Lebenswelt‹) in his Krisis der europäischen Wissenschaften from 1936. In this phenomenological approach the scientific-technical, but also the philosophical knowledge is to be found in a pretheoretical realm, namely the ›life-world‹. Since that time this problem has been critically discussed not only in phenomenology but also in the social sciences. For a long time it has been the prevailing opinion, that it was Husserl who introduced the term ›life-world‹ into the debate. Nevertheless, this essay illustrates the development of the concept in the 19th century by a detailed discussion of the history of sciene and philosophy. Already in 1836 Heinrich Heine used the term, in the second half of the 19th century it turns into a technical term in biology, palaeontology, and geography, and thereby it becomes a catchword in the popular discussions of monism and darwinism. The controversy concerning these attempts to explain ›life-world‹ around the turn of the century finally results in an alternative conception:The experience of sense as a ›life-world‹ replaces the scientific explanation of life. Not only for an adequate understanding of Husserl’s critique of sciences and philosophy but also for an adequate appreciation of phenomenology it is necessary to articulate this tradition.