Agency Dictionary
Phenomenology
nounPronunciation: /fəˌnɒm.ɪˈnɒl.ə.dʒi/
In Portuguese: Fenomenologia
Philosophy & EthicsWhat does “Phenomenology” mean?
The philosophical approach that concentrates on the study of conscious experience and appearances as experienced from the first-person point of view.
Etymology
Formed from two Greek-derived elements: phenomenon (from Greek phainomenon, what appears or shows itself, from phainein, to show, to appear) and the suffix -logy (from Greek logos, study, discourse). The discipline was established in the early twentieth century as the systematic study of the structures of conscious experience, taking first-person perspective as its starting point.
Usage note
Phenomenology is associated above all with Edmund Husserl, who founded it as a rigorous method, and with his successors Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Sartre, each of whom redirected its focus. Outside philosophy, the word is sometimes used loosely to mean the observable features of a phenomenon.
Word family
- phenomenon
- phenomenal
- phenomenological
- phenomenologically
Rhymes with
- biology
- geology
- ecology
- psychology
- technology
Concept
Source editions
Where this entry comes from in the Agency editorial.
Words of the same theme
- Antithesisnoun
- A person, thing, or concept that represents the direct or exact opposite of another.
- Discursiveadjective
- Proceeding by reasoned argument or sequential exposition rather than by immediate visual intuition.
- Treatisenoun
- A formal, systematic, and comprehensive written work dealing methodically with the principles and evidence of a particular philosophical, scientific, or technical subject.
- Maximnoun
- A concise statement expressing a fundamental principle, general truth, or practical rule of conduct.
- rhetoricnoun
- The art of effective and persuasive speaking or writing, especially through strategic linguistic devices.
- Tangibleadjective
- Perceptible by the sense of touch or capable of being physically grasped and measured in concrete physical reality. It distinguishes concrete material products from virtual or intellectual entities.
- Holisticadjective
- Characterized by the comprehension of parts as intimately interconnected and explicable only in reference to the whole.
- Abyssnoun
- A deep or seemingly bottomless chasm, either in physical geography or metaphorical psychological depth. It evokes feelings of unfathomable emptiness or existential peril.
- aestheticsnoun
- A set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty, artistic taste, and style.
- Agapenoun
- A selfless, unconditional, and altruistic form of love often associated in theology with divine charity.
- Ambiguitynoun
- The quality of being open to more than one interpretation; inexactness or uncertainty of meaning.
Also from these editions: terms
- Affectnoun
- An expressed or experienced emotion, feeling, or visceral response to a stimulus in psychology and philosophy.
- Biomenoun
- A large naturally occurring community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat defined by climate and soil.
- Cognitionnoun
- The mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.
- Epistemologicaladjective
- Relating to epistemology, the theory of knowledge, its methods, validity, and scope.
- Inferentialadjective
- Characterized by or derived from deduction, reasoning from premises, or drawing conclusions from evidence.
- Ontologynoun
- The branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being, reality, and what kinds of entities can be said to exist.
- Permeabilitynoun
- The state or quality of being permeable, allowing liquids, gases, or symbolic influences to pass through.
- Reciprocitynoun
- The practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit; mutual dependence or action and reaction between entities.
- Reductionismnoun
- The practice of analyzing and describing a complex phenomenon in terms of its simple or fundamental constituents.
- Somaticadjective
- Relating to the physical body, especially as distinct from the mind, psyche, or purely intellectual faculties.
- Venomousadjective
- Capable of injecting venom through a bite or sting; highly toxic or characterized by malice.
Also from these editions: concepts
- Frans HalsFrans Hals was a Dutch painter of the 17th century, a portraitist who worked in Haarlem. Research.1, an edition published only in Portuguese, names him once, in the…
- René DescartesRené Descartes was a French philosopher and mathematician of the 17th century, author of the Discourse on the Method and of the principle "I think, therefore I am"…
- Affective CogitoThe affective cogito is a philosophical reformulation of Descartes' foundational maxim, expressed as I am affected, therefore I exist. It establishes that subjective…
- Affective EpistemologyAffective epistemology is the philosophical perspective asserting that emotional resonance, bodily affection, and visceral feeling precede and enable rational…
- Artificial ConsciousnessArtificial consciousness is the hypothetical state of subjective awareness, qualitative experience, and phenomenal sentience within an engineered computational system. It…
- Behavioral ResponsivenessBehavioral responsiveness is the adaptive capacity of a conscious organism to formulate intentional, self-modifying actions in functional reply to external sensory and…
- Cartesian RationalismCartesian rationalism is the epistemological and metaphysical system founded by René Descartes that establishes the thinking ego as the primary certainty of existence. It…
- Methodological ReductionismMethodological reductionism is a scientific research strategy that investigates complex phenomena by dividing them into their smallest constituent parts and examining…
- Mind-Body ReciprocityMind-body reciprocity is the psychological and physiological principle of continuous, bidirectional causation between subjective mental states and somatic biology. It…
- Ontological RelationalityOntological relationality is the metaphysical doctrine asserting that entities, organisms, and observers do not exist as isolated, self-contained essences, but are…
- Principle of PermeabilityThe principle of permeability is an ontological and epistemological framework stating that conscious reality begins when an entity possesses the capacity to be affected…