What is Phenomenology:
Phenomenologysticking to the etymology of the word, is the study of phenomena. The word is composed of the Greek words φαινόμενoν (faídomenon), which means ‘phenomenon, what is manifested, what is shown’, and λóγος (lógos), ‘study, treatise’.
As such, the Phenomenology is a subjective idealist current within philosophy which proposes the study and description of the phenomena of consciousness or, in other words, of things as they manifest and are shown in it. It establishes that the world is what is perceived through the individual’s consciousness, and it proposes to interpret it according to his or her experiences. In this sense, it values empiricism and intuition as instruments of phenomenological knowledge.
lphenomenology is broad and it has developed different aspects throughout history, some of its greatest representatives being Edmund Husserl, Max Scheler, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Jean Paul Sartre.
transcendental phenomenology
The transcendental phenomenology it’s a philosophical movementopposed to positivism, developed by Edmund Husserl, who proposed that philosophy have the bases and conditions of a rigorous science (like the natural sciences), and that it also serve as a foundation in the human sciences. His starting point is the experience of the subject and the intentionality that governs his relations with his external reality, since these experiences configure the ideas that define the world that surrounds him. In this sense, the transcendental phenomenology It is constituted as a method that works to unravel the meaning and characteristics of human intentionality, and thus finally arrive at pure or transcendental consciousness.
Phenomenology of the spirit
As Phenomenology of the spirit It is titled one of the capital works of the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. In it, topics as complex as the theory of knowledge, history, science, religion and ontology are addressed, with the aim of elucidating the science concept. In this way, Hegel advances in a dialectic of the forms or phenomena of consciousness, from individual sensation to universal reason, that is, absolute knowledge.
Phenomenology in Psychology
In Psychologythe phenomenologyinspired by the thought of Edmund Husserldesignates the study of the phenomena of consciousness as subjective experienceand has been established as a field of scientific knowledge called phenomenological psychology. In this sense, as phenomenological psychology It is considered the explanation of an individual’s experiences based on the consideration of their concrete experiences with the world. This study method has been applied to the analysis of different pathologies and its purpose, as such, is to obtain a theoretical understanding that makes it possible to deal with the phenomenon.
See also Psychology.