Topic relevance as the basic structuration of the field of consciousness

Abstract

My aim is to depict Schutz's theory of topic relevance as his own distinctive phenomenology of consciousness. I will show that his conception of consciousness is elaborated from at least three types of elements. First, I will disclose Husserl's influence on Schutz in this matter. I will list a few Husserlian terms that Schutz takes into consideration such as noema, horizon, parts and wholes, attentional ray and passive synthesis. Second, I will show that Schutz turns to Gurwitsch's idea that consciousness is a field of experience where the previously listed elements are held together and find their relational meaning. Third, I will expose how all these elements taken from Husserl and Gurwitsch are reinterpreted by Schutz as being relative to relevance as a basic phenomenon of our mind's selective activity which puts at work different levels of our personality according to the schizophrenic ego hypothesis.