A Field Named A. Schutz:

Discord between Phenomenology and Scientism

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to secure the way to reconsider the theme of “method and object in sociology” by examining Schutz's “methodology of social science.” In his “Commonsense and Scientific Interpretation of Human Action” published in 1953, he was confronted with the discord between two paradigms: one is positivism or so-called scientism, and the other is anti-positivism, hermeneutic, interpretive social science or Geistwissenschaft. We think the problem Schutz faced in 1953 holds true even today. Therefore, in this paper, we criticize the scientism as “self-consciousness of science” following Schutz's notion. And we will show clearly following his notion: “the thought objects constructed by the social scientists refer to and founded upon the thought objects everyday life among his fellow-men.”