Editorial Introduction: Praxeological Gestalts – Philosophy, Cognitive Science and Sociology Meet Gestalt Psychology

Hutchinson, Phil ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6244-1747, Zielinska, Anna C and Hardman, Doug (2022) Editorial Introduction: Praxeological Gestalts – Philosophy, Cognitive Science and Sociology Meet Gestalt Psychology. Philosophia Scientae, 26 (3). pp. 5-19. ISSN 1281-2463

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Abstract

The idea for the current issue of Philosophia Scientiæ emerged from discussions which took place in the Manchester Ethnomethodology Reading Group. This reading group has its origins in Wes Sharrock’s weekly discussion groups, which have taken place in Manchester (UK) since the early 1970s. As the global Covid-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, the reading group moved online, facilitated by Phil Hutchinson and Alex Holder. Being an online reading group opened up participation to people beyond Northwest UK and within weeks the group became global, with the membership including participants logging on from Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, and the USA. While the name of the group might indicate an exclusive focus on ethnomethodology, following the naming conventions for academic discussion groups, the name really fails to indicate both the heterogeneity of the group’s reading materials, the interests of the participants, and the disciplinary affiliations of the group’s membership. Members of the group are drawn from anthropology, criminology, education, geography, linguistics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, science and technology studies, and beyond. The readings discussed range from work in the ethnomethodological tradition, including Conversation Analysis (EMCA); philosophy, with particular focus on phenomenology and Wittgensteinian thought; and metaphilosophical and methodological texts.