About the Project
Waiting is an omnipresent part of our lives, a distinct mode of acting and experiencing which accompanies our whole life. It occurs in very different situations, and accordingly diverse are its manifestations, from waiting for the bus via waiting for holidays through to waiting for death. What have such distinct manifestations in common? What is the essence of waiting?
This is the basic question of the research project which is sponsored by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and aims at developing a general foundational theory of waiting in terms of a specific theory of action. Only rudiments of such a theory exist, yet there is need for it for multiple reasons. First, theory of action has neglected waiting so far, has not explored sufficiently its phenomenal characteristics. Second, there is a growing empirical interest in the phenomenon which longs for a universal theoretical fundament which is able to combine diverse disciplinary perspectives. Third, in everyday life but also in the academic discourse one regularly encounters ethnocentrically biased assessments of waiting (negative as well as positive) which need a neutral perspective as a corrective.