phenomenology

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

Definition of phenomenology

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

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phenomenologist

play \fi-ˌnä-mə-ˈnä-lə-jist\ noun

Recent Examples of phenomenology from the Web

Everybody liked a little pick-me-up, especially after one of Merleau-Ponty’s strenuous and long expositions on phenomenology.

— Longreads, "When Sartre and Beauvoir Started a Magazine," 10 Apr. 2018
Andrija Puharich is the pioneer of the book, the man who monetized and institutionalized psychic phenomenology.

— dick teresi, New York Times, "The Truth Is Out There, and the Feds Paid to Find It," 25 Apr. 2017
Mayberg’s work, for instance, reveals something vital about both the physiology and phenomenology of depression — namely, that depression is not simply an absence or a lack but the instantiation of a network run amok.

— david dobbs, WIRED, "Flickering Lights: One-Shot Wonders versus the Network Model," 4 July 2006

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'phenomenology.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of phenomenology

German Phänomenologie, from Phänomenon phenomenon + -logie -logy

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1797

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

Other Philosophy Terms

dialectic, dualism, epistemology, existentialism, metaphysics, ontology, sequitur, solipsism, transcendentalism

Medical Dictionary

phenomenology

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

medical Definition of phenomenology

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

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