Normality, as a Concept in Phenomenology

Normality as a concept in phenomenology refers neither to a statistical or objectively measured average nor to what counts as normal within a specific time, culture, or society. Nor is it related to notions that equate normality with naturalness or natality. Normality, approached from a first-person perspective is characterized as a mode of experience, i.e., it is about what it is like to experience normally. Normality is comprised of two aspects, concordance and optimality. A normal course of experience must be concordant regarding prior experiences and optimal in relation to its contents, on the levels of individual and intersubjective experience. While normality as concordance is the condition of coherent experience, normality as optimality refers to the intentional aims of perception or action. Phenomenologically, normality is thus not an empirical, but a transcendental-philosophical, concept as it refers to the...