Relevance and embodied reflexivity: constellations work between Gurwitsch, Merleau-Ponty and Garfinkel

Abstract

This paper draws on Aron Gurwitsch's theory of relevance which was of outstanding importance for both Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of the body and Harold Garfinkel's ethnomethodology. In the first part we discuss Gurwitsch's conception of relevance in contrast to Schutz'. We then develop a theory of embodied reflexivity drawing on Merleau-Ponty and Garfinkel together with some newer approaches on embodied practice and knowledge. In the second, empirical section we use the concepts and conceptions developed for the description and analysis of selected video recordings of systemic constellation sessions. Systemic constellation is a psychotherapeutic method which is used predominantly in psychological and pedagogical contexts as well as in management consultations. The basic assumption underlying constellations work is that the experiences of representatives are relevant for the person who has initiated the constellation and that they provide information about the issue at hand. The origin, validity, and reliability of the representatives' bodily and relational self-perception is difficult to assess and even more difficult to explain. In our contribution we propose a vocabulary with reference to Gurwitsch, Merleau-Ponty, and Garfinkel, that, as we think, allows for the description of the phenomenon and at the same time throws a light on how relevance can be understood from a sociological perspective inspired by phenomenology.