phenomenology

noun

phe·​nom·​e·​nol·​o·​gy fi-ˌnä-mə-ˈnä-lə-jē 

plural phenomenologies

1

: the study of the development of human consciousness and self-awareness as a preface to or a part of philosophy

2

a(1)

: a philosophical movement that describes the formal structure of the objects of awareness and of awareness itself in abstraction from any claims concerning existence

(2)

: the typological classification of a class of phenomena

the phenomenology of religion

b

: an analysis produced by phenomenological investigation

phenomenologist

fi-ˌnä-mə-ˈnä-lə-jist 

noun

Examples of phenomenology in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

So the real problem is about connecting mechanisms in the brain to these kinds of properties of phenomenology. —Steven Strogatz, Quanta Magazine, 31 May 2023

As our knowledge improves, less of the human mind will appear mysterious, and more of its phenomenology will be associated with the physical body, in the same way that the charm of the Mona Lisa can be traced back to the specific paint marks left by da Vinci’s brush on the canvas. —Avi Loeb, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2020

This is the phenomenology of time, or what neuroscientists call time consciousness. —Conor Feehly, Discover Magazine, 3 Nov. 2021

But the idea that there would be any accompanying bodily phenomenology to this knowledge is plainly nonsensical. —Justin E. H. Smith, WIRED, 7 Mar. 2023

Human existence, in her handling, seems a primarily somatic enterprise, and her greedily adjectival prose can sometimes read like a sort of dramatized phenomenology. —Leo Robson, The New Yorker, 29 June 2020

These steps – from phenomenology to causality and ultimately predictive intervention – are challenging for microbiome research efforts, given the enormously complex interactions occurring on the microscale. —Jeffrey Marlow, Discover Magazine, 13 May 2017

In this exquisite passage, Duras gives a phenomenology of dissociation, of what can happen to a person when their psyche is so overwhelmed by affect that the self takes flight. —Lili Owen Rowlands, The New Yorker, 29 Dec. 2022

The idea of an archaic architecture appealed to architect Louis I. Kahn, a mystic with a penchant for gnomic aphorism and musing on phenomenology. —Dallas News, 5 Oct. 2022

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Word History

Etymology

German Phänomenologie, from Phänomenon phenomenon + -logie -logy

First Known Use

circa 1797, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Medical Definition

phenomenology

noun

phe·​nom·​e·​nol·​o·​gy fi-ˌnäm-ə-ˈnäl-ə-jē 

plural phenomenologies

: the way in which one perceives and interprets events and one's relationship to them in contrast both to one's objective responses to stimuli and to any inferred unconscious motivation for one's behavior

also : a psychology based on the theory that phenomenology determines behavior

phenomenological

fi-ˌnäm-ən-ᵊl-ˈäj-i-kəl 

adjective