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Consider the possibility of having invented a series of categories which became the basis for your subsequent biography. There is something both morbid and facinating about this prospect, as if one were able to intervene in the historical process putting one's own signature on the subsequent account of one's life. One might surmise that Alfred Schutz would be surprised to see his life presented in terms of interpretative categories that he himself invented, and yet that is precisely what Helmut Wagner in his "intellectual biography' has attempted to do. The term "intellectual' has its own peculiar connotation. The attempt is to examine life and work together in the context not only of the multiple influences that Schutz encountered during his lifetime, but also to consider that work in terms of its predecessors, successors and contemporaries. One is reminded of Schutz's well-known distinction between predecessors, successors and contempories. This is not coincidental. Wagner's book deliberately chooses this distinction as the organizational principle of the book. In this sense the work of Schutz is, as it were, doubly reflected in Wagner's book, both as subject and as historico-theoretical foundation for the interpretation. As a consequence, the reader is given an "up close' look at the work of Schutz. We shall reserve judgement on the merits of this approach until a later point. Wagner was a student of Schutz, one who may be counted among that small circle of students who devoted their lives to an examination and presentation of Schutz's work. His dedication to his mentor shows itself on every page.

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-009-6228-6_10

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