lifeworld means the world "as lived" prior to reflective representation or analysis.
Why “lifeworld” is a great word
The world of immediate, pre-theoretical experience and everyday social reality that forms the taken-for-granted background of all human thought and action. A calque of German Lebenswelt, from Leben ("life") + Welt ("world"), coined by German philosopher Edmund Husserl. Unlike the "objective world" of abstracted scientific facts or the "environment" of mere external surroundings, the lifeworld is the invisible medium we inhabit: the unspoken agreement that guides a crowded sidewalk, the familiar ache of a childhood home, the disorientation in a foreign supermarket where even the eggs are kept elsewhere. It is the quiet substrate upon which all our loud declarations are etched.
Etymology
Calque of German Lebenswelt, coined by German philosopher Edmund Husserl.
noun
- The world "as lived" prior to reflective representation or analysis.
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