Abstract
This study develops a genetic phenomenological sociology of space from the phenomenology and phenomenological sociology of space. Based on relational ontology, it argues that social space is a social relationship in genesis. An Apple walk-in store and an Apple online store are examples to illustrate the essence of social space. Any Apple store as a social space represents a set of social relations. The genetic phenomenological sociology of space in both store types includes two parts: first, the social ontology of space, that is, ‘being-in-the-Apple-store’ or ‘being-in-the-Apple-online-store’; and second, the social epistemology of space, that is, the act of ‘encountering’ in either store. Examining the existence of space ontologically and the mode of existence epistemologically clarifies that the actual ‘meaning’ of social space, an Apple store or an Apple online store in this study, emerges through the act of encountering. Three characteristics of encountering are placelessness, ‘de-distancing,’ and mediation.
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Notes
This translation is based on work by Gu Zhengkun (1995: 87). Original Chinese text is as follow:
Most importantly, Dao De Jing has no punctuation marks, leading to varied interpretations by different scholars. As indicated by black italics in the Chinese text above, a comma is usually put after the nothingness (
), but I put it after the being (substance,
). I arranged the punctuation marks and interpreted the text the way that I believe follows the philosophical meaning of Dao De Jing in the vision of Guodianchujian (
) and is in accord with phenomenological ontology.
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Zhang, V.Q. Being-in-the-Apple-store: a genetic phenomenological sociology of space. Hum Stud 43, 667–682 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-020-09559-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-020-09559-y