ABSTRACT
In phenomenology, normality is neither a measurable average nor a mere social construct. Rather than being understood from without, i.e. outside of lived experiences, normality is approached from within as a mode of lived experience. In the first part of the chapter, I will show why it is relevant to turn to a phenomenological investigation of normality if one is interested in normativity. This perspective, so I will argue, is needed to understand not only how external norms impact subjective experience but also how norms develop through repeated practices. As such, the experience of normality, understood as consisting of self-evident feelings of orientation and familiarity, is interpreted as the result of an operative normativity. In the second part, I will present Husserl’s theory of normality in more detail in order to demonstrate how it could be applied to a more systematic investigation of normality on different genetic levels. Lived normality is seen here as a dynamic and fragile system of balances; a constant attempt to achieve an equilibrium with one’s environment and fellow subjects. (Re)turning to normality allows us to see normativity at work, embedded in the need for constant development, appropriation, and transformations of regular structures in experience.
