Benue State University, Makurdi

Curbing the Challenges of National Integration with Alfred Schutz’s Intersubjective Phenomenology

Peter Iorhom Akunoko, Ph.D and Terzungwe Inja

Abstract

The peoples of Nigeria have been in one boat since the amalgamation of 1914. Yet, from all indications, national integration remains a mirage. This paper applies Alfred Schutz’s notion of intersubjectivity to solve this problem. Schutz’s phenomenology is phenomenology of the natural attitude. For him, the essence of the social world is its commonness; a world shared by a multiplicity of individuals living and acting within it in mutually interlocking activities. The world of daily life is a reality experienced within the natural attitude by the alert adult who acts within, and upon it; amidst his or her fellow human beings. This natural attitude is the state of consciousness in which one accepts the reality of everyday life as a given. From the onset, the world is not the private world of the solitary individual but an intersubjective world in which we act in coexistence with others. The other is a psycho-physical ego, which is experienced as another ‘I’ and not as an object to be used. In this light, the world is more of a community of interdependent beings; and none can afford to be an island. Therefore, it seems counter-productive that in a country like ours, certain groups continue to work against integration in spite of obvious negative effects. This paper argues that the knowledge of any other conscious ego as another ‘I’ can minimise the barriers of national integration in Nigeria and foster a sense of belonging for all..

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