Another scary word from philosophy. Made simple, phenomenology is the study of conscious experience and the structures of human perception. It developed in the early 20th century, notably by Edmund Husserl. It continued to be developed by thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Maurice Merleau-Ponty.
The key aspects of phenomenology include:
- Intentionality: Consciousness is always consciousness of something. Our thoughts, perceptions and experiences are directed toward objects and phenomena in the world. This is often coined the “aboutness” of consciousness.
- Suspension of Judgment: Phenomenology urges the thinker to throw out preconceived beliefs, assumptions and judgments so that experiences can be described as they are, without the bias inherent with external factors.
- Description and Analysis: Phenomenologists seek to understand the fundamental structure of consciousness and how humans, in turn, understand the world.
- Phenomenological Reduction: This method temporarily sets assumptions aside and focuses on the immediate subjective experience.
- Existential Phenomenology: Emphasis is place upon freedom, choice and responsibility.
Phenomenology holds a defined framework for examination and understanding of human consciousness and subjective experience. Two quotes on phenomenology are listed below for thought prompts.
“The first and most fundamental step toward understanding is to experience something.”–Max van Manen
“The world is always the world as I have constructed it, for that is the way in which I experience it.”–Alfred Schutz