Phenomenology and Sociology of the Alien: How the Alienation of the City and the Alienation of People Within the City Are Related

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of limits of visibility of the «alien» in the phenomenological and sociological description. Analizing Bernhard Waldenfels’ and Georg Simmel’s project, the author sets up a problem of the nature of relations between the sense of the strangeness of the city and the alienation of people within the city. Can one type of perception overlap another or somehow intersect with it? Does the sense of the strangeness of the city precede people’s alienation in megalopolis? Solving this problem requires clarifying of observer’s position and conceptualization of the space. The main thesis suggested here is the phenomenological and sociological model of analysis ultimately excludes each other, because they refer to different perspectives – either in first or in third person point of view. As a phenomenologist we are talking about the atopic character of the experience. In contrast, sociological model of analysis implies an objectified and measurable distance between people. Thus, the question of interrelations between the strangeness of a city and the alienation of people has two logical solutions. But only one of them is productive. The author demonstrates the possibilities of the phenomenological definition of alien, referring to study of the urban atmospheres. The paper’s conclusion is that a sense of the strangeness of a city precedes the distinction between the atmospheres within a city: it eliminates the possibility of understanding city life, as well as the possibility of establishing social relations.