Phenomenology
Philosophy must describe the structures of consciousness and lived experience.
Overview
Phenomenology is the rigorous study of how things appear to consciousness. By 'bracketing' our assumptions about whether the external world exists (the epoche), phenomenologists describe the pure structures of experience: how we perceive objects, constitute meaning, experience time, and relate to other people. The goal is to return to 'the things themselves' — to describe experience as it is actually lived, before scientific theories and philosophical assumptions distort it.
Origins
Edmund Husserl founded phenomenology in the early 20th century as a response to what he saw as a crisis in European sciences. He believed philosophy had lost its way by imitating natural science rather than investigating consciousness itself. Heidegger transformed phenomenology into an investigation of Being and human existence, while Merleau-Ponty extended it to the body and perception. It became the methodological foundation of existentialism and much of Continental philosophy.
Key Thinkers (5)
Edmund Husserl
1859 CE – 1938 CE
Philosophy must return 'to the things themselves' by studying the structures of conscious experience.
Martin Heidegger
1889 CE – 1976 CE
The fundamental question of philosophy is the question of Being: and we have forgotten to ask it.
Jean-Paul Sartre
1905 CE – 1980 CE
Existence precedes essence: we are condemned to be free and must create ourselves through choice.
Hannah Arendt
1906 CE – 1975 CE
Evil is often banal: the product of thoughtlessness, not demonic intent; political freedom requires active participation.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
1908 CE – 1961 CE
We do not have bodies; we are our bodies. Perception is the foundation of all knowledge.