phenomenology

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UK/fɪˌnɒmɪˈnɒləd͡ʒi/US/fɪˌnɑməˈnɑləd͡ʒi/

noun

The study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view.

Less commonScrabble 24

Meanings

nounphenomenology (usually uncountable, plural phenomenologies)

plural phenomenologies · alternative phænomenology

  1. uncountableusuallyhuman sciencesThe study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view.

    Writing, individuation, and civilization are all parts of one larger cultural phenomenology.

    1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 196
    1 more example

    A similar and more influential use of the term can be found in William Whewell's Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences (1847), where phenomenology occurs in the context of the "palaetiological sciences" (i.e., sciences which deal wih more ancient conditions of things), as that branch of these studies which is to be followed by aetiology and theory. Among such phenomenologies Whewell mentions particularly phenomenological uranology, phenomenological geography of plants and animals, and even a phenomenological glossology.

    1994, Herbert Spiegelberg, Karl Schuhmann, “Introduction”, in The Phenomenological Movement: A Historical Introduction, 3rd rev. and enlarged edition, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, →DOI, →ISBN, page 8
  2. uncountableusuallyhuman sciencesA movement based on this, originated about 1905 by Edmund Husserl.

    The process of questioning back displaces the emphasis in phenomenology from an inquiry into modes of givenness, which assumes that there can be a simple starting point, to an inquiry into modes of pregivenness.

    1995, Anthony J. Steinbock, Home and Beyond: Generative Phenomenology After Husserl, page 83
  3. uncountableusuallyhuman sciencesAn approach to clinical practice which places undue reliance upon subjective criteria such as signs and symptoms, while ignoring objective etiologies in the formulation of diagnoses and in the compilation of a formal nosologies.
  4. uncountableusuallynatural sciencesThe translation of theory into measurable or observable predictions that can be used to experimentally test it.

    The group's many projects include the modelling of observations (phenomenology)

    [a. 2020, “Research interests”, in Université de Montréal, retrieved 21 Jan 2021
    3 more examples

    He hopes [students] will "do the necessary phenomenology experiments and produce the necessary theory extensions" that will "turn over the present physics."

    c. 2000, “Zero Energy - Thomas Bearden”, in Alternative Energy, archived from the original on 28 Jan 2021

    Particle phenomenology research includes perturbative QCD [quantum chromodynamics], physics beyond the Standard Model as well as heavy flavor physics.

    a. 2017, “Zhejiang University, China, Zhejiang Institute of Modern Physics”, in AcademicJobsOnline.org, retrieved 21 Jan 2021

    Well, it is in some sense the basic job description of a physicist to try to conceive of methods that make accessible natural phenomena that where hitherto out of reach, and to do so by devicing^([sic]) experiments. It is here that phenomenology comes into play by trying to work out models that can actually be tested by available data.

    2018, Tim Lappe, “Superfluid Helium: The Volovik Lessons”, in Walter Geiner, Ernst Bamberg, Marc Thilo Figge, Thomas Haberer, Volker Lindenstruth, Joachim Reinhardt, Klaus Schulten, Wolf Singer, Horst Stöcker, editors, Experimental Search for Quantum Gravity (FIAS Interdisciplinary Science), Springer International Publishing, →DOI, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 15

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*bʰeh₂-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*bʰh₂nyéti
  3. Proto-Hellenic*pʰáňňō
  4. Ancient Greekφαίνω (phaínō)
  5. Ancient Greekφαινόμενον (phainómenon)
  6. Late Latinphaenomenon
  7. Englishphenomenon
  8. Proto-Indo-European*leǵ-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*lóǵos
  10. Proto-Hellenic*lógos
  11. Ancient Greekλόγος (lógos)
  12. Englishphenomenology

From phenomenon + -logy, from Ancient Greek φαινόμενον (phainómenon, “thing appearing to view”), hence "the study of what shows itself (to consciousness)". According to Martin Heidegger's Introduction to Phenomenological Research, "the expression “phenomenology” first appears in the eighteenth century in Christian Wolff’s School, in Lambert’s Neues Organon, in connection with analogous developments popular at the time, like dianoiology and alethiology, and means a theory of illusion, a doctrine for avoiding illusion." (p.3)

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan fenomenologia
  • fenomenologiaphilosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Chinese Cantonese 現象學 /现象学
  • 現象學 /现象学 (jin⁶ zoeng⁶ hok⁶)philosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Chinese Mandarin 現象學 /现象学
  • 現象學 /现象学 (xiànxiàngxué)philosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Czech fenomenologie
  • fenomenologiephilosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Dutch fenomenologie
  • fenomenologiephilosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Esperanto fenomenologio
  • fenomenologiophilosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Finnish fenomenologia
  • fenomenologiaphilosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
French phénoménologie
  • phénoménologiephilosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
German Phänomenologie
  • Phänomenologiephilosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Greek φαινομενολογία
  • φαινομενολογία (fainomenología)philosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Hindi घटनाविज्ञान, दृश्यप्रपंचशास्त्र
  • घटनाविज्ञान (ghaṭnāvijñān)philosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
  • दृश्यप्रपंचशास्त्र (dŕśyaprapañcśāstra)philosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
  • संवृतिशास्त्र (samvŕtiśāstra)philosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
  • परिघटनाविज्ञान (parighaṭnāvijñān)philosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Hungarian fenomenológia
  • fenomenológiaphilosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Indonesian fenomenologi
  • fenomenologiphilosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Italian fenomenologia
  • fenomenologiaphilosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Japanese 現象学
  • 現象学 (genshōgaku)philosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Korean 현상학
  • 현상학 (hyeonsanghak)philosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Norwegian Bokmål fenomenologi
  • fenomenologiphilosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Polish fenomenologia
  • fenomenologiaphilosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Portuguese fenomenologia
  • fenomenologiaphilosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Russian феноменоло́гия
  • феноменоло́гия (fenomenológija)philosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Spanish fenomenología
  • fenomenologíaphilosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Swedish fenomenologi
  • fenomenologiphilosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Vietnamese hiện tượng học
  • hiện tượng họcphilosophy based on intuitive experience of phenomena
Cite this entry
APA

phenomenology. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phenomenology

MLA

“phenomenology.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phenomenology. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “phenomenology,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phenomenology.

Source: phenomenology on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.