Phenomenology: what it is, concept and main authors

Much has been tried to understand about the world that surrounds us, trying to do it in the most objective and empirical way possible, however, sometimes, the experiences and sensations that we have of our reality can acquire great importance, especially in the context therapeutic.

Phenomenology is a philosophical branch that tries to understand and give importance to how people live the world in which we live, both in terms of their more physical appearance and in terms of social interaction and emotionality.

Let's take a closer look at this complex philosophical current, how it is related to psychology and what its most notable authors have been.

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Phenomenology and its relationship with psychology

Phenomenology is a philosophical movement that emerged during the 20th century, whose etymological origin is ‘phainomenon’, (in Greek, ‘appearance, manifestation’) and ‘logos’ (‘science, knowledge’). Thus, it can be understood as' the study of demonstrations.

In this branch of philosophy the aim is to investigate and describe phenomena or objects as they are experienced by people.. This idea is not only applicable in the field of psychology, but also in many other fields of the know, making phenomenology encompass very varied elements depending on the matter where it is apply.

In the case of psychology, phenomenology deals with the study of the structures of consciousness from a first-person perspective, that is, taking into account how the own experiences it person.

What does it take care of?

Defining clearly what phenomenology refers to with its field of study is certainly a complicated task.

As we were already commenting, it could be extracted as a fundamental idea within this current, which in turn is a method and philosophical branch, that of ‘Go to understand the things themselves’, that is to say, trying to understand the world without having prejudices, in the form of previous knowledge and theories, that may influence its interpretation.

origins

While it is true that we have said that this discipline and philosophical trend emerged in the 20th century, its roots go much earlier. In fact, the first person to use the term 'phenomenology' was the Swiss mathematician and philosopher Johann Heinrich Lambert, who used it referring to the method he had proposed to explain how to distinguish between truth, illusion and error.

However, the first time the term was defined in the way it is understood today is in the work of the German philosopher George Friedrich Hegel, ‘A phenomenology of the spirit’ (1807). In short, in this work he tried to understand and explain the development of the human mind from the sense of existence itself.

But really, phenomenology is not established as the philosophical movement, both theoretical and applied, that it is today in the middle of the 20th century, when Edmund husserl, of whom we will speak in more detail later, he founded it methodologically speaking. He was the author of the founding of transcendental phenomenology and, thanks to him, the movement became a whole line of complex thought that to this day continues to carry great weight within the sciences human.

Phenomenological method and the figure of Edmund Husserl

The phenomenological method not only acquires importance on a philosophical level, but, as we have already commented previously, it has been of great contribution in disciplines that try to understand human beings, such as sociology, psychology and pedagogy.

Edmund husserl He is considered the most responsible for the vision and idea that we have of phenomenology today. Within his theory, the idea of ​​assuming absolutely nothing about the reality perceived and studied was defended. Thus, it can be interpreted that it was contrary to concepts that, although they are widely accepted in society, actually are made up of prejudices and preconceptions, such as the idea of ​​‘common sense’ and ideologies of the discriminatory.

The phenomenological method, both the one proposed by Husserl himself and the current conception of the current within psychology, follows the following three stages:

1. Examine all the contents of consciousness

This indicates that the person is aware that the object that he is perceiving is something sensitive, that it is there.

2. Have self-awareness

In this phase, the person determines if the perceived contents really exist or, on the contrary, are made up of ideas, that is, they are part of his imagination.

3. Suspend phenomenological consciousness

This is nothing more than feeling the object perceived by itself, without entering into reasoning as to whether it is real or not, only grasping it.

As can be understood based on these three phases, it is logical to understand why the phenomenological methodology has been accused of being too subjective. At the end of the day, it focuses on how the person experiences a phenomenon, not how, in more objective terms, it receives in the form of stimulus the organs of the senses and how the brain, at a physiological level, interprets.

The truth is that, to this day, phenomenology continues to aspire to become a current that tries to combine both the subjective aspects that the person experiences with the most objective possible interpretation of this interpretation. What there is no doubt is that the method is more qualitative than non-quantitative.

Representatives of this current

In addition to Edmund Husserl, there are many great philosophers and thinkers of the last two centuries who can be considered as great representatives of the current, both when it was formally founded and when it was still originating.

The figure of Franz brentano, who has been credited with being the origin of modern phenomenology. Even before the use of the term as it is known today, there were many great characters in history who proposed the phenomenological foundations.

Among them you can find the figure of David hume, who in his work "Treatise on human nature" shows to be in favor of the phenomenological approach, although it has not yet been fully conceptualized. Another notable is Immanuel Kant, who in ‘Critique of Pure Reason’ makes a distinction between objects, understood as phenomena, formed and assimilated by human sensibility, and noumena, which could be translated as 'things-in-themselves' (for example, the thought).

Already towards the middle of the 20th century the figures of Martin Heidegger and Maurice Merleau-Ponty.

Phenomenological therapies

Traditionally, humanist-oriented therapies have been related to the foundations of phenomenology. From the phenomenological point of view, the therapeutic situation consists of a singular context in which there is, at least, the intersubjective interaction of two phenomenologies, that is, the experiences of the patient himself and the experiences of his own therapist.

Thus, the patient experiences his reality in a certain way, which, in turn, is reinterpreted by the psychotherapist himself, to whom he confesses his internal world. Of course, the psychologist is not going to interpret the patient's world in the same way as the patient does. That is, it will be a reinterpretation of an interpretation. However, it is clear from humanistic therapies the idea that one should try to understand the patient's own vision when he is referring to how he sees and feels the world.

Among the therapies, mostly of humanistic-existential orientation, that have emphasized the phenomenological fields of both the patient and the psychotherapist himself can be found.

1. Person-centered psychotherapy

This therapy, formulated by Carl rogers, is based on reflecting, clarifying and transforming the patient's internal world as he describes it to his therapist.

From the time he formulated it, Rogers defended the idea that the therapist should empathically understand the reality experienced by the patient, and clinical descriptions of these should be dispensed with. experiences.

Later, he himself came to emphasize the importance of the fact that two people share their experiential worlds, as they are living them, and thus favor a mutual enrichment between the worlds perceived by the patient and the therapist.

2. Body psychotherapy

This therapy, whose foundations are found in the thought of Wilhelm Reich, originally defended the immediate phenomenological observation that the therapist makes about the patient's body and gestures.

Subsequently, this therapy was giving greater weight to psychological and bodily processes such as as they are experienced and phenomenologically described by the patient during the psychotherapy session.

Post-Reichian psychotherapy has been developed with the aim of trying to transform the experience that the client / patient has of himself and of her own bodily reality.

Gestalt therapists have been emphasizing the clinical utility of contrast and classification of the most notable differences between the phenomenological experience of the patient compared to that of the psychologist.

Bibliographic references:

• Moreira, V. (2001). Beyond the person: Towards a mundane phenomenological psychotherapy. Santiago de Chile: Editorial Universidad de Santiago.
• Moss, D. (Ed.) (1999). Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology: A Historical and Biographical Sourcebook. Westport: Greenwood Press
• Sassenfeld-Jonquera, A., and Moncada-Arroyo, L. (2006) Phenomenology and humanistic-existential psychotherapy. Journal of Psychology of the University of Chile, 15 (1), 89-104.
• Waldenfels, B. (1992). From Husserl to Derrida: Introduction to phenomenology. Barcelona: Paidós.