This paper claims rigour and sensitivity for a methodology used to explore multiple sources of data and expose the essential characteristics of a phenomenon in the human sciences. A descriptive phenomenological methodology was applied in a study of the experience of ten people with osteoarthritis receiving ginger compress therapy. The application of the phenomenological attitude, with reduction, bracketing and imaginative variation, allowed multiple sources of data – written, pictorial and oral – to be explicated. The applied methodology (...) used is described in this paper, with its six clearly defined steps illustrated by examples from the study. The findings demonstrate that phenomenological reduction enabled an indication of the potential benefits of ginger compress treatment as a therapy for people with osteoarthritis. Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology , May 2010, Volume 10, Edition 1. (shrink)

Phenomenological Studies in Education explores and applies methods associated with phenomenological work to build knowledge of experiences in education and pedagogy. Covering topics such as building inclusive environments, descriptive phenomenology, and phenomenological interviewing experiences this book is ideal for researchers in educational studies qualitative researchers and students.

This book is an investigation into cultural variations in experiences of depression. With the aid of empirical data, and with a phenomenological outlook, the analyses presented aim to give a comparative account of the significance of culture in shaping cross-cultural variations, as seen in Iran and the UK. Through analysis of elements of Iranian culture such as literature and folk theories, and important pillars of current social make-up of the country like experience of Iran-Iraq war, the Islamic revolution and (...) its dominant religious discourse, variations in conceptions, experiences and narratives of depression are accounted for. Some of the themes explored include discussions of particular symptoms of depression such as guilt, hopelessness, loss of meaning and somatic symptoms; social stigmas and help-seeking behaviours; changes in relations with others; and metaphors used to convey experiences of depression. The findings of the empirical data examined challenge the universalist approach to psychiatry as science and practice, as well as theoretical notions like idioms of distress that aim to account for cross-cultural variations of mental illness. Instead, it is claimed that a better understanding of the workings of mental illness is achieved by situating individuals and their experience in a meaning-making sociocultural context. (shrink)

Forty-five children between the ages of nine and twelve years, who were forced to flee their native Sudan and seek refuge in Egypt, were interviewed about their everyday life in Cairo. Phenomenological analyses of the transcripts revealed the physical, social and technological dimensions to their encounter with a new cultural world. The interviews also revealed the extent to which the children had to face racism, discrimination and social exclusion. Specific analyses of children’s difficulties in learning a new form of (...) Arabic and their involvement in play and games indicated that a refugee child develops his or her self-identity as a stranger by reflecting on particular confrontations with the new environment. Finally, comparative analyses across age groups led to the construction of a phenomenological-developmental model of the child refugee. Both the model and the findings are discussed in the context of Alfred Schutz’s (1964a) essay The Stranger, George Herbert Mead’s (1967) communicative model of the self and Binnie Kristal-Andersson’s (2000) psychological framework for understanding migration. (shrink)

This study aims to find out the experiences encountered by the parents at a very young age considering their maturity and financial capabilities. This study highlights the form of gathering data which is conducted using an interview. This is done in a dyad form wherein only one respondent is involved in the interview. The term qualitative research refers to the collection and analysis of non-numerical data and is sometimes based on a phenomenon which could be in a form (...) of a survey questionnaire or an interview. Based on the data and analysis; poverty is the main reason for entering a marriage. Generally, the kind of life wished by everybody to have was not merely dictated by fate, it was a manifestation of personal choice. Each individual has their own choices in what to pursue and to sacrifice, the only sure thing that a person can do is to prepare for the consequences that await in the process. (shrink)

This phenomenological study investigated educators’ lived experiences of teaching online in higher institutions in Malaysia. Data, which was generated through semi-structured interviews with 20 lecturers from three universities in the country, was analysed based on the thematic analysis approach guided by the Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge -self-efficacy framework. The findings revealed that after a year of teaching online, the potential of technology has been acknowledged by the educators after some trials and constraints were addressed. The domains related (...) to Technology Content Knowledge, Technology Pedagogical Knowledge, and TPACK were evident in the findings. However, Pedagogical Content Knowledge was not given emphasis, hence this manuscript argues that educators need to be constantly reminded of the significance of PCK. The findings discussed in this manuscript can be a helpful guide for educators when there is a need for them to teach online. (shrink)

Anorectics typically maintain that they perceive their bodies as ‘fat’ and yet also state that they are aware of being ‘too thin.’ In this study, I use phenomenological insights from the work of Merleau-Ponty and Sartre to explore this apparent contradiction. I suggest that the anorectic experiences a pathological corporealization of the body, and show how this bodily experience may be described as ‘feeling fat’ due to cultural influences. In addition, I explore how this anomalous bodily experience may (...) lead to partial feelings of disassociation from visual perceptions of the body, allowing the anorectic to recognize the emaciation of a reflected image of herself without it impacting upon her subjective experience of the body as ‘fat.’. (shrink)

Honesty is essential for the care of seriously ill and dying patients. The current study aimed to describe how nurses experience honesty in their work with patients receiving palliative care at home. The interviews in this phenomenological study were conducted with 16 nurses working with children and adults in palliative home-based care. Three categories emerged from analyses of the interviews: the meaning of honesty, the reason for being honest and, finally, moral conflict when dealing with honesty. The (...) essence of these descriptions was that honesty is seen as a virtue, a good quality that a nurse should have. The nurses’ ethical standpoint was shown in the moral character they show in their work and in their intention to do good. This study could help nurses to identify different ways of looking at honesty to promote more consciousness and openness in ethical discussions between colleagues and other staff members. (shrink)

This is a brief historical view, based on my personal experience, of the phenomenological study of the assembly of actin in Japan. The morphogenesis and dynamics of protein filaments and cytoskeleton now represent one of the central problems in cell biology. The approach to this problem at the molecular level was first undertaken on actin from muscle.

The article presents a comparison of the interpretations of Edmund Husserl’s early philosophy, created in different local contexts: ones by Polish researchers (Kazimir Tvardovsky, Jan Luka sevich, Vladyslav Tatarkevych, Roman Ingarden, Aleksander Rozenblum-Augustowski) in the period 1895-1945, and Ukrainian philosopher Volodymyr Yurynets. This comparison takes place against the background of considering the differences in the conditions of the development of philosophy in pre-war and interwar Poland and the USSR. The author demonstrates the similarity of the readings of Husserl’s phenomenology by (...) Polish researchers and Yurynets and proves that the similarity between them is not only in the thematic focus of criticism of phenomenological philosophy, but also in its validity and level. In addition, the author offers an approach to the study of Yurynets’ figure and work, based on considering him primarily as a representative of Western intellectual culture. In particular, the possibility of considering Yurynets ‘ objections to Husserl’s project of phenomenological philosophy not as determined by ideological dictates, but as symptomatic of the European intellectual culture of the beginning of the 20th century is substantiated. Both Yurynets and the Polish phenomenological movement criticize phenomenology for its lack of coherence, and it is about both the internal coherence of phenomenological philosophy and its coherence with contemporary sciences. Particular attention is paid to the role of Yurynets in the history of Ukrainian studies of phenomenological philosophy in the context of the discussion about the origins of phenomenological studies in Ukraine.The author considers the investigations of the phenomenological movement in Poland to be fruitful for modern studies of phenomenological philosophy in Ukraine - a phenomenon that had a significant impact on the development of a wide range of humanitarian disciplines in Europe in the 20th-21st centuries and which has direct intersections and common personalities with Ukrainian philosophy. The same seems promising for other European local traditions. (shrink)

Psychologists investigating dreams in non-Western cultures have generally not considered the meanings of dreams within the unique meaning-structure of the person in his or her societal context. The study was concerned with explicating the indigenous system of dream interpretation of the Xhosa-speaking people, as revealed by acknowledged dream experts, and elaborating upon the life-world of the participants. Fifty dreams and their interpretations were collected from participants, who were traditional healers and their clients. A phenomenological methodology was adopted in (...) explicating the data. Themes explicated included : the physiognomy of the dreamer's life-world as revealed by significant dreams, the interpretation of significant dreams as revealed through action, and human bodiliness as revealed in dream interpretations. The participants' approach to dreams is not based upon an explicit theory, but upon an immediate and pathic understanding of the dream phenomenon. The understanding is based upon the interpreter's concrete understanding of the life-world, which includes the possibility of cosmic integration and continuity between personal and trans-personal realms of being. (shrink)

The current literature suggests that the use of Husserl’s and Heidegger’s approaches to phenomenology is still practiced. However, a clear gap exists on how these approaches are viewed in the context of constructivism, particularly with non-traditional female students’ study of mathematics. The dissertation attempts to clarify the constructivist role of phenomenology within a transcendental framework from the first-hand meanings associated with the expression of the relevancy as expressed by interviews of six nontraditional female students who have studied undergraduate mathematics. (...) Comparisons also illustrate how the views associated with Husserl’s stance on phenomenology inadvertently relate to the stances of the participants interviewed as part of the study. The research questions focus on the emotional association with studying mathematics and how pre-conceived opinions regarding the study of mathematics may have influenced the essences of the experiences of the participants who have studied collegiate-level mathematics. The essences of the experiences of the participants are analyzed using bracketing and epoché to ensure personal biases of the researcher do not affect the interpretation of the expressed essences of the participants. Data collection is accomplished through two series of qualitative interviews seeking the participants’ firsthand impressions of how they view the way instructional design is oriented with regard to mathematics. Additional questions seek to illuminate the participants’ point of view regarding their emotional association with mathematics as well as their opinions and theoretical perspectives on the study of mathematics. (shrink)

The present study utilized research design in which six different poems were given repeated readings by groups of persons in which there were an equal number of males and females and of introverts and extraverts as assessed by the Myers- Briggs Type Indicator (Myers, 1962). Assessments of readers’ experience of the poem were obtained immediately after an initial reading and again after repeated readings of the poem. Subjects' general descriptions of their experience of the poems were reduced to fundamental (...) descriptions (Colaizzi, 1969) by a three-step procedure (preliminary listing, grouping, and constituent definition) and then resynthesized in a fourth step that placed the constituents into a coherent general description. As understanding increased, readers experience became less personal and more closely related to that intended by the poet. The general trend was increased imagery but attenuation of emotional experience as both were experienced as a part of or derived more directly from the poem itself. (shrink)

This thesis aims to clarify the intrinsic characteristics of ‘image’ of everything for the image in the society of the fourth industrial revolution by the phenomenological dimention based on Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology, and to clarify the value of image, the intrinsic characteristics of ‘painting-image’, ‘photo-image’ and ‘film-image’. It will reveal that ‘thing-image’, ‘artifact-image’, ‘digital image’, ‘robot-image’ become the images for society of humanities by these clarifications. The image of everything is ‘appearance-image’ to reveal itself, ‘expression-image’ from the phenomenological, ontic (...) point of view, and ‘image-being’ as ‘being as image and being image’ from the phenomenological, ontological point of view. The augmented reality-image is the image of fusion of virtual image+real image+body-subject image. Things-images in the world of Internet of Things(IoT) become things-images of digital communication. Painting-image, photo-image, film-image are text-images. The painting to paint a correspondence of perceptive phenomena and natural affairs themselves means the painting of the image to fuse the diverse images on horizon-image of natural affairs themselves by the multilateral, intentional vision. The sense of the intentional photo-image, the meaning of being of body-subject, and the facticity and singularity of object itself of photo shoot reveal the intrinsic characteristics of photo-image. The film-images in film manifest the intrinsic characteristics of the connective flesh between them mutually. Finally, it is necessary that the value of the intrinsic characteristics of image in the society of the fourth industrial revolution becomes the value for the righteous personality. (shrink)

The phenomenology of the creative process has been a neglected area of creativity research. The current study investigated the phenomenology of artistic creativity through semi-structured interviews with 11 artists. The findings consisted of 19 interlinked constituents, with 3 dynamics operating within these constituents: an intuition-analysis dynamic, a union-division dynamic, and a freedom-constraint dynamic. The findings are discussed in relation to the issues of creativity and spirituality, intuition and analysis, the creative synthesis, affective components, and flow. The findings display considerable (...) overlap with previous research into the phenomenology of the artistic creative process, yet place particular emphasis on the shift in sense of self associated with creative experience and the energising effect of a synthesis of disparate elements. (shrink)

From 2008 to 2009, “herbivore men (sôshoku danshi or sôshoku-kei danshi in Japanese)” became a trendy, widely used term in Japanese. It flourished in all sorts of media, including TV, the Internet, newspapers and magazines, and could even occasionally be heard in everyday conversation. As it became more popular its original meaning was diversified, and people began to use it with a variety of different nuances. In December of 2009 it made the top ten list of nominees for the “Buzzword (...) of the Year” contest sponsored by U-CAN. By 2010 it had become a standard noun, and right now, in 2011, people do not seem particularly interested in it. Buzzwords have a short lifespan, so there is a high probability that it will soon fall out of use. The fact remains, however, that the appearance of this term has radically changed the way people look at young men. It can perhaps even be described as an epochal event in the history of the male gender in Japan. (shrink)

In concept, an image has both verticality and horizontal dimensions. Saturated images within this space have a horizon and can exceed that horizon. Within that horizon where the image dwells something chances itself upon the observer and the observed. Into that public space between self and other, students bring an instrumental approach to how they plan to deploy their new fund of knowledge, only to discover that the setting itself has become an event where surprise and upheaval disrupt their illusion (...) of self-continuity and the façade of familiarity. Phenomenologically, upheaval shows itself when givenness both precedes and participates in the giving of phenomena such as medical students’ “before and after” images of psychoanalysis. They discover and reconfigure their erstwhile absolute positions and values into reconfigurations of self and prior commitments. The turning point from their instrumental use of knowledge to reconfigurations of how they situate themselves in the world decisively comes when teaching and learning become an event in se that disturbs their sense of order.Following Husserl, phenomenological psychological observation has required us to go from the events of history to a sense of history. Would, however, that we could stay at the level of events much longer to see images explode and exceed their horizons from the illusion of order, and patterned repetition disrupted by surprise, upheaval and indeterminacy in the spirit of Alain Badiou! (shrink)

A text written by a student in a Swedish comprehensive school, during a Biology test, is analyzed using a method based on Husserl's transcendental phenomenology. The method is presented in the article. The analysis results in an explicitation of horizons, which enables an access to the lifeworld opened by the text. In this case, the interplay of school Biology and "everyday life" is visible. The meaning constituted in the encounter with school Biology seems to lack natural science aspects. The visible (...) aspects pertain to the bodily situatedness of a student in school and to the character of school knowledge. The world as constituted by school Biology seems to be a place of disembedded, general people where school is a place of non-learning. (shrink)

20세기 이후 많이 논의되는 주제가 타자이다. 전통적으로, 특히 근대이후, 자유주의의 대두와 함께 타자와 자유는 서로 양립하기가 어려운 개념으로 여겨져 왔다. 자유주의의 관점에서 자유는 외적 억압 및 방해의 부재라는 조건이 필수적이며, 이 외적 억압 및 방해의 핵심을 이루는 것이 바로 타자(타인)이다. 벌린의 ‘소극적 자유’ 개념은 이를 잘 보여주는 대표적인 사례이다. 그러나 현대에 이르러 자유는 타자를 배제하고 이해하기 어려우며, 타자성 또한 자유의 본질적 계기로 받아들여야 한다는 주장이 강력하게 제기되었다. 관계적 체험을 중요하게 생각하는 현상학은 바로 이러한 관점에서 자유에 대한 논의를 펼친다. 아렌트나 메를로퐁티 (...) 등에 의해 제시된 현상학적인 자유 개념은 따라서 타자연관적 자유 개념을 통해 소극적 자유개념이 지니는 한계를 나름대로 넘어선다. 그러나 현상학적 자유 개념은 자율적(주권적) 주체 개념에 대한 거부감으로 인해 적극적인 자유 개념이 지니는 가치지향적인 자유 내지 사회적 자유의 비전은 제대로 제시하지 못한다. 이러한 맥락에서 실러의 미적 자유 개념은 타자연관성을 함축하면서 동시에 새로운 종류의 자율성 개념을 보여줌으로써 타자성과 자율성이 적절히 조화를 이루는 자유의 구체적인 비전을 제시하고 있다는 점에서 의미가 있다. 그러나 이러한 식의 실러 자유 개념의 해석은 현상학적인 관점, 즉 관계성과 직접적 체험 그리고 중간영역의 탐구라는 현상학 고유의 방법론적 틀 속에서 이루어질 때, 그 가치가 보다 분명하게 드러날 수 있다. (shrink)

Many countries, namely, Malaysia, Lithuania, and Spain, shifted to online assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative case study, which involved 18 undergraduate students from the three countries, was conducted to probe insights into their online assessment experience. Data were interpreted from the perspective of the expectancy-value theory of motivation, which focuses on intrinsic attainment, utility, and cost values. The findings revealed that students were motivated to complete their assessment since they experienced flexibility besides having effective assessment guidelines. The (...) positive experiences were related to intrinsic and attainment values; however, the students were also demotivated when stressed, indicating the high-cost value. Utility value was found to overlap with cost value in this study because students were dissatisfied with the online assessment and expressed less preference for this approach in future. This contributes to our understanding that educators must consider utility values when preparing online assessments. The pedagogical implications of this study revolve around the importance of a checklist, mock exams, alternative assessment, and video demos for an effective assessment. (shrink)

The development of phenomenological philosophy in Japan is a well-established tradition that reaches back to the early 20th-century. The past decades have witnessed significant contributions and advances in different areas of phenomenological thought in Japan that remain unknown, or only partially known, to an international philosophical public. This volume offers a selection of original phenomenological research in Japan to an international audience in the form of an English language publication. The contributions in this volume range over classical (...) figures in the phenomenological movement, recent trends in French phenomenology, and contemporary inter-disciplinary approaches. In addition to this diverse engagement with European thinkers, many of the contributions in this volume establish critical and complimentary discussions with 20th-century Japanese philosophers. (shrink)

이 논문은 〈버닝〉이 궁극적으로 이른바 ‘벌거벗은 생명’이라는 문제의식을 20세기 세 주요 현상학자의 분석틀, 즉 조르조 아감벤의 ‘호모 사케르,’ 한나 아렌트의 ‘탄생성,’ 한스-게오르크 가다머의 ‘예술론’을 통해서 제시하고자 하는 시도이다. 우리 시대의 대표적인 청년층인 종수와 해미는 스펙도 변변치 못해 몸을 쓰는 일을 하며 비정규직을 전전하는 프리터족으로 살아간다. 이들은 자신의 젊음을 의미 없이 ‘버닝’하며 살아가는 것이다. 이창동은 영화 내내 우리 사회가 구조적 폭력에 짓눌리고 배제와 포용의 경계가 불분명한 시대에 봉착했음을 통렬히 보여준다. 급기야 정치적 행위로의 전환을 통해서 종수가 한국형 개츠비의 전형인 벤에 맞서는 장면을 (...) 영화의 마지막 부분에서 롱테이크로 잡아낸다. 영화는 종수가 벤을 ‘버닝’하는 데 집중하기보다는 마침내 소설을 쓸 수 있게 되는 사건을 더 중시한다. 종수가 소설을 쓰게 되는 변화의 순간은 한나 아렌트가 말한 ‘탄생성’이기도 하다. 그럼에도 이창동의 사회 인식이 ‘진지’와 ‘재미’라는 다분히 이원론적 평행구도를 고집함으로써 관객에게 그 어떤 실천의 가능성도 열어놓지 않았다는 점은 안타깝다. 이 연구에서 되물어야 할 질문은 영화에서뿐만 아니라 우리의 현실에서 모든 재미가 감각적 쾌락으로 귀결될 수밖에 없는가에 있다. 결론적으로 이 연구는 재미를 통한 의미의 세계가 충분히 가능하고, 이에 따른 심미적 범주의 즐거움을 누릴 수 있음에도 한국형 개츠비의 방만한 삶을 고발하는 데 역점을 두었다는 점을 비판했다. (shrink)

루소와 쉴러는 자유의 문제를 교육과 연관해 논의를 펼치고 있다는 점에서 공통점을 보인다. 이때 어떻게 개개 인간을 자유를 매개로 하나의 자율적 인격체로 성장시키는가가 양자의 교육론의 초점이 된다. 루소는 자연적 자유라는 이상적 자유의 상황을 설정, 이것이 사회적 자유로 확장될 수 있는 가능성을 교육학적으로 고찰한다. 이때 루소는 자연적 감정인 동정심과 양심을 근거로 자연적 자유가 사회 속에서도 가능함을 입증하고자 하며, 이를 위해 루소는 자연적 감성에 바탕을 둔 건전한 상상력의 배양을 교육의 주된 수단으로 이해한다. 그러나 루소는 이러한 상상력의 가능조건에 대해 방법론적으로 제대로 성찰하지 않음으로써 한계를 (...) 드러난다. 쉴러는 이러한 루소의 한계를 건전한 상상력의 가능조건에 대한 방법론적 성찰을 수행함으로써 극복한다. 그에 따를 때, 자유의 상태로 간주되는 미적 체험을 통해 인간은 일상적, 이기적 욕망 등을 넘어서게 되고, 여기서 비로소 상상력의 활동이 자유롭게 이루어질 수 있다. 상상력의 올바른 가능조건에 대한 이러한 방법론적 성찰은 현상학에서 주장되는 에포케(판단중지)의 실행과 같은 의미를 지니며, 쉴러에서 미적 자유의 체험은 곧 현상학적 에포케의 의미를 지닌다. 루소와 쉴러는 감성적 체험에 근거해서 자유의 교육론을 전개한다는 점에서 현상학적으로 공통점을 지니지만, 한편으로 에포케의 실행여부라는 방법론적 측면에서 차이를 보인다. (shrink)

This is a partial phenomenological study of a phenomenon that I call “displaced feeling”, which is best illustrated through a concrete example. I am overcome by a strong desire to stop writing. For one reason or another, I reject the possibility of pursuing this desire. Instead of giving up the desire altogether, however, I may “speak to myself” as follows: “I feel like having a coffee” and, the chatter goes on in the background “of course to make coffee (...) means to stop writing”. I endorse the desire to get a cup of coffee. But the action through which I pursue this desire is coloured not by the feeling that anticipates the value associated with drinking coffee but by a feeling that anticipates the value associated with stopping writing. The latter feeling has displaced the former: I am in a state of displaced feeling. Here, I will elucidate two invariant structures of displaced feeling. First, I will show that displaced feeling involves the realisation of an endorsed state of affairs, the bringing about of a rejected state of affairs, and the belief that the former will determine the latter. Next, I will show that the endorsed state of affairs appears prominently as the end of an intention, that the rejected state of affairs appears inconspicuously in the horizon of the same intention, and that the belief appears twice: as a motive for this intention and as the “glue” that keeps its prominent and inconspicuous zones together. (shrink)

Remembering A Phenomenological Study Second Edition Edward S. Casey A pioneering investigation of the multiple ways of remembering and the difference that memory makes in our daily lives. A Choice Outstanding Academic Book "An excellent book that provides an in-depth phenomenological and philosophical study of memory." —Choice "... a stunning revelation of the pervasiveness of memory in our lives." —Contemporary Psychology "[Remembering] presents a study of remembering that is fondly attentive to its rich diversity, its (...) intricacy of structure and detail, and its wide-ranging efficacy in our everyday, life-world experience.... genuinely pioneering, it ranges far beyond what established traditions in philosophy and psychology have generally taken the functions and especially the limits of memory to be." —The Humanistic Psychologist Edward S. Casey provides a thorough description of the varieties of human memory, including recognizing and reminding, reminiscing and commemorating, body memory and place memory. The preface to the new edition extends the scope of the original text to include issues of collective memory, forgetting, and traumatic memory, and aligns this book with Casey’s newest work on place and space. This ambitious study demonstrates that nothing in our lives is unaffected by remembering. Studies in Continental Thought—John Sallis, general editor Contents Preface to the Second Edition Introduction Remembering Forgotten: The Amnesia of Anamnesis Part One: Keeping Memory in Mind First Forays Eidetic Features Remembering as Intentional: Act Phase Remembering as Intentional: Object Phase Part Two: Mnemonic Modes Prologue Reminding Reminiscing Recognizing Coda Part Three: Pursuing Memory beyond Mind Prologue Body Memory Place Memory Commemoration Coda Part Four: Remembering Re-membered The Thick Autonomy of Memory Freedom in Remembering. (shrink)

Edward S. Casey provides a thorough description of the varieties of human memory, including recognizing and reminding, reminiscing and commemorating, body memory and place memory. The preface to the new edition extends the scope of the original text to include issues of collective memory, forgetting, and traumatic memory, and aligns this book with Casey's newest work on place and space. This ambitious study demonstrates that nothing in our lives is unaffected by remembering.

In the literature related to the study of sport, the idea of phenomenology appears with various meanings. The aim of this paper is to sketch the nature, methods and central concepts of phenomenology, and thereby to distinguish philosophical phenomenology from its empirical applications. We shall begin by providing an overview of what we think phenomenology is and is not, by introducing the following points: we distinguish phenomenology from phenomenalism; the ontological from the ontic; transcendental subjectivity from subjectivity; phenomenology from (...) phenomenography; and phenomenology from other kinds of empirical qualitative methodology. Next, we examine the two most important British studies to include overviews of phenomenological work in relation to sociology of sport. We then take a critical view of the work of one research paper that gives a particularly clear description of the method of ?empirical phenomenology?. Throughout, we insist on the simple basics: that phenomenology is not simply the study of empirical phenomena, is not a form of subjectivism, is not about someone's personal experience or personal perspective, and that it is not to be confused with ?qualitative research methods?. We further insist that, if a researcher wishes to use the name ?phenomenology? for his or her research, he or she should explain just what it is (about the method or the concepts, or the outcomes) that informs or results from the research programme, in order to justify the name. (shrink)

This article is a phenomenological study of students' lived experience in a computer conference learning environment. Issues for students in computer conferences revolved around spatial disorientation: existential location, appearances in space, imagined space, word space, secret space, and being alone within a group. Within these spatial issues the students grappled with getting into a computer space, familiarity of use, getting stuck, and the class as a "necessary evil. " The article poses critical questions for educators to consider the (...) use of computer conferencing as a learning environment. (shrink)

This text gives examples of how a different kind of human experience may be explored, and how the methods used for investigating phenomena may contribute to the process of human understanding.

Based on critical readings of Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, the paper offers a phenomenological study of the ontology of well-being that transcends the opposition between subjective and objective being. By interpreting the Heideggerian notion of Befindlichkeit as the fundamental way in which humans find themselves in the world, being affected by and faced with their own existence, the paper opens a way to understanding well-being that locates the possibility of elevating one’s own being (...) not inside or outside the I but in the affective bond to others called friendship. Aristotle’s reflections on philia play a crucial role in developing this understanding of well-being, according to which humans find themselves well by sharing joy with each other and making a vital contribution to the realization of their own possibilities. (shrink)

This study provides insight into the human desire to return to important places of our past and to establish places of memory. Drawing upon philosophers such as Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Gadamer, and Ricoeur, Janet Donohoe uses the idea of a palimpsest as a jumping-off point to explore how we make and preserve memories.

Drawing on his own experiences of imagining, Edward S. Casey describes the essential forms that imagination assumes in everyday life. In a detailed analysis of the fundamental features of all imaginative experience, Casey shows imagining to be eidetically distinct from perceiving and defines it as a radically autonomous act, involving a characteristic freedom of mind. A new preface places Imagining within the context of current issues in philosophy and psychology.

Mental toughness (MT) is a key psychological variable related to achievement in performance domains and perseverance in challenging circumstances. We sought to understand the lived experiences of mentally tough high-altitude mountaineers, focusing primarily upon decisions to persevere or abort summit attempts. Phenomenological interviews were conducted with 14 mountaineers including guides, expedition leaders, and doctors (Mage = 44 years). A content analysis was employed to identify key themes in the data. Participants emphasized the importance of MT in extreme environments and (...) described rational, flexible, and vigilant decision-making. Turning around without summiting was the toughest decision reported, with recognition of the thin line between persevering and overstretching. In contrast to much MT literature, mountaineers accepted limits, demonstrated restraint, and sacrificed personal goals to aid others. Costly perseverance was also reported with some mountaineers described as “too tough”: overcompetitive, goal-obsessed, and biased decision-makers. These findings revealed both benefits and dangers of MT in mountaineering. (shrink)

Kant's Critique of Judgment accounts for the sharing of a common world, experienced affectively, by a diverse human plurality. In order to appreciate Kant's project, Judging Appearances retrieves the connection between appearance and judgment in the Critique of Judgment. Kleist emphasizes the important but neglected idea of a sensus communis, which provides the indeterminate criterion for judgments regarding appearance. Judging Appearances examines the themes of appearance and judgment against the background of Kant's debt to Leibniz and Shaftesbury. Drawing upon treatments (...) by Husserl, Sartre, Ricoeur and Arendt, Kleist delineates the proto-phenomenological method through which Kant uncovers the idea of a sensus communis. Kleist shows that taste is a discipline of opening oneself to appearance, requiring a subject who dwells in a common world of appearances among a diverse human plurality. This volume will prove valuable for anyone interested in a fresh approach to themes at the heart of Kant's aesthetics. (shrink)

A critical examination of the history of theories and uses of concepts such as ‘primitive’ and ‘savage’ in the academic study of religion in imperial, colonial and postcolonial contexts is particularly urgent in our time with its demands to decolonise Western models of knowledge production. In Savage Systems (1996) and Empire of Religion (2014), David Chidester has contributed to this project by relating the invention and use of terms such as ‘religion’, ‘primitive’ and ‘savage’ by theorists of religion in (...) European imperial metropoles to South African colonial and indigenous contexts. This article intends to take Chidester’s project further by relating Gerardus Van der Leeuw’s phenomenological analysis of ‘primitive mentality’ (particularly in De primitieve mensch en de religie, 1937) to Chidester’s analysis and postcolonial critique of imperial theories of religion. By taking animism and dreams in Chidester’s and Van der Leeuw’s works as example, it is argued that in spite of the latter’s decontextualised use of ethnological material, a fundamental shift occurred in the judgement of ‘primitive’ religion from Tylor’s evolutionary to Van der Leeuw’s phenomenological analysis, which is contrary to claims according to which modern theories are unanimously denigratory of indigenous religions. (shrink)

The process by which SSRIs reduce “depressive symptoms” remains obscure. Biochemical, functional, and taker self-assessment evidences for the “corrective” nature of this process are inconclusive and ultimately incapable of appropriately addressing the meaning of being “anti-depressed.” In light of their growing prevalence, an understanding of the ways in which SSRIs alter takers' lived worlds is crucial for those who are presently taking them or considering doing so, for those recommending their use, and for those inhabiting societies increasingly composed of people (...) who use them. This study found that the essential lived characteristic of “being-on-SSRIs” was increased distance or disconnection between takers their worlds, a disruption which showed itself most prominently within the emotional, bodily, social, and existential realms. Depression and anxiety are intense modes of relation, and the alteration of meaningful connections is characterized largely by participants as a disruption. SSRIs succeed in alleviating pain and suffering. However, takers' attunement becomes a relatively “a-motional” acceptance of whatever occurs in their world. Their stance becomes an essentially passive approach toward a world that can no longer “touch” them and to which takers are no longer responsible, and numbing “side-effects” are inseparable from the “treatment effect.”. (shrink)

BACKGROUND: Delusions in schizophrenia are commonly approached as empirical false beliefs about everyday reality. Phenomenological accounts, by contrast, have suggested that delusions are more adequately understood as pertaining to a different kind of reality experience. How this alteration of reality experience should be characterised, which dimensions of experiential life are involved, and whether delusional reality might differ from standard reality in various ways is unclear and little is known about how patients with delusions value and relate to these experiential (...) alterations. This study aimed to investigate the nature of delusional reality experience, and its subjective apprehension, in individuals with lived experience of delusions and a schizophrenia-spectrum diagnosis. METHODS: In this qualitative phenomenological study, we recruited individuals with lived experience of delusions and a schizophrenia-spectrum diagnosis from two psychiatric-hospital services in Belgium using homogenous sampling. Criteria for participation were having undergone at least one psychotic episode with occurring delusional symptoms, present at least 1 year before participation, on the basis of clinical notes assessed by the attending psychiatrist; a schizophrenia-spectrum diagnosis, ascertained through clinical interview by the attending psychiatrist upon admission; being aged between 18 years and 65 years; and having the capacity to give informed consent. Exclusion criteria included worries concerning capacity to consent and risk of distress caused by participation. We did phenomenologically driven semi-structured interviews with the participants to explore the nature of delusional reality experience and their subjective valuation of these experiences. We used interpretative phenomenological analysis, a qualitative method tailored to the in-depth exploration of participants’ first-person perspective, to analyse their accounts. FINDINGS: Between March 2, 2020, and Sept 30, 2020, 18 adults participated in the interview study. The findings suggest that delusions are often embedded in wide-ranging alterations of basic reality experience, involving quasi-ineffable atmospheric and ontological qualities that undermine participants’ sense of the world as unambiguously real, fully present, and shared with others. We also found that delusional reality experience can differ from standard reality in various ways, across multiple dimensions, and that participants are often implicitly or explicitly aware of the distinction between delusional and standard reality. Delusional experience can have an enduring value and meaning that is not fully captured by a strictly medical perspective. INTERPRETATION: Increased awareness and recognition of the distinctive nature of delusional reality experience, in both clinical and research settings, can improve diagnostic accuracy, explanatory models, and therapeutic support for individuals with delusions whose lived realities are not always evident from an everyday perspective. FUNDING: FWO Flanders. TRANSLATION: For the Dutch translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section. (shrink)

Background Ethical care provided by nurses to earthquake victims is one of the main subjects in nursing profession. Objectives Given the information gap in this field, the present study is an attempt to explore the nurses’ experience of ethical care provided to victims of an earthquake. Research design and method A hermeneutic phenomenological study was performed. The participants were 16 nurses involved in providing care to the injured in Kermanshah earthquake, Iran. They were selected using purposeful sampling, (...) and in-depth and semi-structured interviews were carried out. The transcribed interviews were analyzed based on the hermeneutic approach using the analysis method proposed by Diekelmann et al. Ethical considerations The study was approved by the Research Council and Ethics Committee of Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Findings Data analyses revealed four themes and 10 sub-themes that illustrated nurses’ experience of ethical care during earthquake. The themes were (1) Respecting humanistic values (sacrifice, stepping beyond task description, and voluntary work), (2) Commitment to ethics (honesty, confidentiality, and trustworthiness), (3) Respecting dignity of victims (respecting cultural values, maintaining privacy, having humanistic perspective, and effective communication), and (4) Spiritual support (helping patients to do religious rituals Psychological support). Conclusion The results showed the nurses’ experience with providing care to earthquake victims. The findings underlined ethics and ethical values in providing nursing care during disasters. It is suggested that special courses on the importance of nursing ethics in critical situations be incorporated into nursing curriculums and in-service educations. (shrink)