Abstract
In this paper, I will examine the theoretical position of Alfred Schutz's category of relevance in his phenomenological-social theory and the sociological applicability of this category.
Schutz noticed that the category of relevance was important to his own phenomenological social theory, but he did not fully develop this category. For that reason, the theoretical bases of this category were not clarified. In my effort to clarify the development of the category of relevance, I will consider how this category was thematized into “Strukturanalyse der Sozialenwelt” in his book “Der sinnhafte Aufbau der sozialen Welt”.
The main arguments of this paper are; first, the category of relevance is related to the theory of intersubjective constitution of social action and is located not in Husserl's transcendental sphere, but in the mundane sphere; second, this category is related to the intersubjective problem, which consists of the problem of understanding others, social interaction, and social relation. These points at issue are found particularly in the categories of “intrinsic relevance” and “imposed relevance”, which were developed in his late draft “Reflections on the Problem of Relevance”.
Since Schutz's category of relevance is closely linked with the human-community based on intersubjectivity, it is essential in order to investigate the fundamental-theory of sociology.
