A Schutzian Perspective on the Phenomenology of Law in the Context of Positivistic Practices

The paper outlines Schutz’s phenomenology of law in the context of the transformation of positivistic practices in a post-totalitarian society. His major contribution is seen in the disentanglement of social phenomena from any form of naturalness by incorporating the dimension of meaning and interpretation into them. This philosophical gesture is made possible by renouncing any theory of transcendent ground(s) of a pre-formed order (Section 1) and leads to an interpretive concept of law, in which the reciprocity of perspectives play the major role. The conclusions are pointing toward a phenomenological concept of law able to take our freedom seriously. Presented as the Alfred Schutz Memorial Lecture at the meetings of the Society for Phenomenology and the Human Sciences (SPHS), Chicago, 2007, and co-sponsored by the American Philosophical Association (APA) and the Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology (CARP). I am grateful to Lester Embree and Nicoleta Szabo for their comments on an earlier draft of this essay.