Elsewhere 1 we were concerned with fundamental aspects of the question
how man can comprehend his fellow-men. We analyzed man's subjective
experiences of the Other and found in them the basis for his
understanding of the Other's subjective processes of consciousness. The
very assumption of the existence of the Other, however, introduces the
dimension of intersub- jectivity. The world is experienced by the Self
as being inhabited by other Selves, as being a world for others and of
others. As we had occasion to point out, intersubjective reality is by
no means homogeneous. The social world in which man finds himself
exhibits a complex structure; fellow-men appear to the Self under
different aspects, to which correspond different cognitive styles by
which the Self perceives and apprehends the Other's thoughts, motives,
and actions. In the present investigation it will be our main task to
describe the origin of the differentiated structures of social reality
as well as to reveal the principles underlying its unity and coherence.
It must be stressed that careful description of the processes which
enable one man to understand another's thoughts and actions is a
prerequisite for the methodology of the empirical social sciences. The
question how a scientific interpretation of human action is possible can
be resolved only if an adequate - From: De, sinnha/te A II/ball tler
sowuen WeU, Vienna, 1932; 2nd ed. 1960 (Sektion IV: Strukturanalyse der
Sozialwelt, Soziale Umwelt, Mitwelt, Vorwelt, English adaptation by
Professor Thomas Luckmann.
