Lead
Dialogue and a tanka
Merleau-Ponty (1993) wrote, “For the speaker no less than for the listener, language is definitely something other than a technique for ciphering or deciphering ready-made significations” (p. 80). He is ever insistent that being-in-the-world is an embodied event, an ongoing discovery, and he relentlessly examines the ways in which experiences are given to us, prior
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Feature
How to interview phenomenologically: Englander (2012)
Magnus Englander’s 2012 article, “The Interview,” is an excellent resource for students learning how to conduct phenomenological research. As Englander points out, though Steiner Kvale’s excellent work on interviewing is well known among qualitative researchers, there are important differences between Kvale’s work and a phenomenological perspective. This article clarifies issues such as how to select
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Who’s Afraid of Forms? Phenomenological Philosophy Summer Program: July 1-4 University of Calabria, Italy
Who’s Afraid of Forms? is an advanced summer program in phenomenological philosophy to be held July 1-4, 2013 at the University of Calabria. Seminars, delivered in English, will be led by Professors De Warren, Hopkins, Majolino and Palombi, and will address topics in the philosophy of science, ontology, ethics and politics. For details consult the program. To participate, please
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Fads, Phenomenology, and Cultural Psychology
I love Teo and Febbraro’s (2002) observation that “Psychology’s history can be studied as a history of fads” (p. 458). Teo (1996) has written that psychologists “have tended to value meta-theoretical constructions from outside their discipline more than those from inside their disciplines,” with the popularity of these constructions shifting as one or another current
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PhenomBlog em Português: Ser um ‘eu’ significa ser ‘único’?
I’m happy to expand the linguistic diversity of our blog with this post of mine in Portuguese, which I offer with deep gratitude to the colleagues who volunteered to translate it: Eu ensino uma introdução à investigação psicológica para estudantes de doutorado que dura um ano. Muitos dos meus alunos são psicoterapeutas ou estão em
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Akihiro Yoshida: Tamamushi-iro-no expressions
Here is a link to a beautiful essay of Akihiro Yoshida’s, On Tamamushi-iro Expression: A Phenomenological Explication of Tamamushi-iro-no (Intendedly Ambiguous) Expressive Acts. Dr. Yoshida is Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo, and Professor of Psychology, Shukutoku University. In Japanese, he writes, tamamushi-iro-no expressions are those that, when spoken, lend themselves to multiple differing interpretations by the one to whom they
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Human Science
What does a phenomenological psychological dissertation method chapter look like? Here’s an example of a phenomenological dissertation method chapter. This paper is the methodology section of Broomé’s doctoral dissertation that outlines the Descriptive Phenomenological Psychological Method of research as taught by Amedeo P. Giorgi. Giorgi (2009) based his method on Husserl’s descriptive phenomenological philosophy as an alternative epistemology for human science research. This method section
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“Do I really need to read all this philosophy?” The students who put this question to me are usually taking their first course in phenomenological or hermeneutic (narrative) psychological research. And in a way, I feel for them, because many of them didn’t expect to be facing something called “epistemology,” and bumping into any number of arcane Greek terms that seem to bear no
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Amedeo Giorgi: A Life in Phenomenology In August 2011 Amedeo Giorgi was interviewed at Saybrook’s graduate conference on themes related to his life’s work in phenomenological psychological research. The panel was comprised of four former doctoral students of Giorgi’s at Saybrook: Drs. Lisa K. Mastain, Adrienne Murphy, and Sophia Reinders, and was moderated by Marc Applebaum. This transcript was edited by
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Ferrarello: Unnoticed Phenomena of the Italian Crisis During the current global recession rising suicide rates have being witnessed across Europe; this is echoed by American data on increases in suicides and depression. I invited philosopher Susi Ferrarello to reflect upon the rash of suicides amid Italy’s social crisis. –Marc Applebaum Phenomenology and the Representation of Personal Identity I am writing and working in a language
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Englander: Organizational Phenomenology at Volvo Empathy “is taken to disclose rather than establish intersubjectivity” (Zahavi, 2001, p. 154). 2012 marks the 10th year of my phenomenologically-based empathy training (Englander, submitted) and what better way to spend an anniversary than bringing a practical application of descriptive phenomenological psychology to the corporate world. In 2012 I was asked to pilot my empathy training with a
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Merleau-Ponty
What was it like to study with Husserl? Philosopher Ludwig Landgrebe (1902-1991) was one of Husserl’s closest assistants. Landgrebe’s description of Husserl below was translated by Algis Mickunas, Professor Emeritus, Ohio University, and included by Lester Embree in his Representation of Edmund Husserl: “Almost everyone who first encountered Husserl experienced something of a disappointment at not immediately seeing any external signs of how
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The Phenomenology of Dreaming: A Dialogue This conversation between philosopher Susi Ferrarello and me began, as is often the case in phenomenology, with an everyday experience: dreaming. My description of a dream led us to reflect on Merleau-Ponty’s discussions of dreaming and waking perception, and Husserl’s active and passive intentionality. The exchange continued over several weeks, and we’ve summarized it here–
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Ferrarello: Husserl, Intersubjectivity, and Lifeworld Introduction Intersubjectivity can be described as a relationship between me and an other. The peculiarity of this relationship lies in the fact that the other is not alien to me, but is “within me” in a way that his or her “otherness” can be investigated beginning with the way in which that “otherness” is imminent
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Key ideas: Applebaum on the phenomenological reduction I recently posted a short discussion of what “the natural attitude” means in Husserl’s phenomenology. As I mentioned, the natural attitude is the perspective of everyday life. For Husserl the process he calls the phenomenological reduction is the means by which the phenomenologist frees himself from the reifications of the natural attitude, gaining a standpoint
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Applebaum: Introducing Husserl’s phenomenology to psychology students This PowerPoint presentation was developed for the first meeting of a seminar introducing psychology students to phenomenological psychological research, and assumes no prior knowledge of Husserl or continental philosophy. The descriptive phenomenological research method itself is introduced in depth over the course of the semester–this presentation is a “first taste” of Husserlian terms for students. Naturally, I added
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Praxis
Call for Papers–Interdisciplinary Phenomenology Conference, “Understanding Embodiment” This year’s annual meeting of ICNAP (Interdisciplinary Coalition of North-American Phenomenologists) will meet in May at Ramapo College in New Jersey. Dr. Frederick Wertz is President of ICNAP, and we’re happy to post his invitation followed by submission details below. Dear Colleague, The Interdisciplinary Coalition of North American Phenomenologists (ICNAP) conference, “Understanding Embodiment,” will be
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ICNAP 2013, Understanding Embodiment–Call for papers In May 2013 Ramapo College in New Jersey will host the Interdisciplinary Coalition of North American Phenomenologists’ annual meeting. This year’s theme is “Understanding Embodiment,” and is open to a wide variety of topics. The submission deadline is February 1, 2013–for more details, read the call here: ICNAP V call for papers
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Broomé: Intentional Analysis in Psychological Research Introduction The descriptive phenomenological method of psychological research is rooted in the intentional property of consciousness. Husserl (1983) modified Brentano’s concept of intentionality, expressing it as consciousness acting upon an object or state-of-affairs that is not itself. In other words, embodied human subjectivity relates actively and passively to things that are immanent and external to it
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Phenomenology and empirical science Since Husserl, phenomenological philosophers have dialogued with the empirical sciences in an attempt to contribute to a more complete human science—a science that speaks to the fullness of being human. The job of our philosophers, in this context, is to invite an opening up of an epistemological conversation that renews the sciences’ exploration of human
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The Internet: Closing or Opening Horizons? Merleau-Ponty (1968) wrote that questioning does not “fill in the blanks” in our knowledge. Instead, “the questions are within our life, within our history. They are born there, they die there, if they have found a response, more often than not they are transformed there” (p. 105). For phenomenologists, questions of any depth are never
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