natural attitude

Natural attitude refers to the way we experience and perceive the world in our everyday lives, often without questioning or analyzing it. It’s our default perspective, where things appear familiar and taken for granted—like seeing a table as simply “there” rather than recognizing the underlying processes that make its existence possible. This attitude allows us to operate smoothly in daily activities, but it can also limit our awareness of deeper structures or assumptions behind our perceptions. Philosophers use the concept to encourage stepping back and examining these taken-for-granted assumptions to gain a more critical understanding of reality.