Human Being and Lifeworld: From Ontology to Phenomenology

Abstract

The paper is focused on one of the key aspects of Fyodor Vasilyuk’s contribution to the elabora¬tion of methodological foundations of psychology, namely, on the construct of lifeworld and ‘lifeworld ontology’ as a metatheoretical framework for the understanding of human life and activity in the world. The paper is subdivided into four sections. The first one gives the justification of Vasilyuk’s approach in terms of ‘lifeworld ontology’, reveals its conceptual connection with the ideas of A.N. Leontiev and S.L. Rubinstein. The second one is dedicated to the concept of lifeworld, its association with specifically human ways of existing in the world, its distinction from the environment and the idea of multiple hu¬man worlds. In the third section, the author reveals, basing on the conceptions of L. Binswanger, E. van Deurtzen and C. Popper, the multidimensional structure of human lifeworld and discusses the mutuality of human-world relationships. In the fourth section. a typology of lifeworlds is offered, based on three core criteria: past/present/future ratio, individual/society relationship, and factual/due/possible ratio as value orientations.