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Experimental Phenomenology

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With this short and clearly written text, Ihde describes phenomenology in intelligible terms, and illustrates this approach to understanding and perceiving the world with simple examples taken from visual perception.

The reason for adopting this clear way of describing phenomenology is that he is aware that phenomenology especially that developed by Husserl, uses a daunting vocabulary that often obscures meaning and its purpose. This is the main concern of chapters 1 and 2 where phenomenology is contrasted to empirical methodology, and phenomenological notions are explained, including "epoche", "apodicticity", "noesis" and "noema" - in addition to their relations.

In order to illustrate phenomenology, in chapter 3 Ihde starts by explaining the visual field, which consists of the "core", the "field" and the "horizon", the elements of the "noema" (that which we look at) by means of the "noesis" (the process by which we look at). In chapter 4, he deals with a first visual example to mark a difference between "literal-mindedness" (describing that which is looked at in one manner only) and "polymorphic-mindedness" (describing that which is looked at in two manners). The latter is the core of the phenomenological attitude, in that it is a deliberate search for variations, cases, possibilities and choices beyond the familiar, that is, an `open possibility search' (p.78). Chapters 5, 6 and 7, which unfortunately become somewhat tedious, apply these ideas to additional visual examples that include the Necker cube. What is achieved nevertheless is a progression from `natural attitude' to `phenomenological attitude', and finally to an `eidetic attitude', when perceiving phenomena and their variations in an open manner has become familiar and second nature. Finally, in chapter 8, he gives directions to use phenomenology with objects that often compose our surrounding.

In the concluding chapter 9, Ihde argues with Schutz for phenomenology to be the science to precede any empirical science as it goes beyond the sedimentation of experience by language and therefore of social practice.

Overall, a nice and clear introduction to phenomenology especially the first 4 chapters which come in handy before tackling Husserl!

Phenomenology can strain the most robust craniums with voluminous terminology, concepts, and unfamiliar perspectives. Those new to the field can drown in abstractions and all those familiar words used in nonstandard ways. What's "intentionality," "horizon," or "epoché?" Most introductory books tend toward a historical approach. They swirl around Husserl and use him as a pedagogical focus. Though this works for those wanting a historical perspective, this somewhat distant approach may keep phenomenology a distant and nebulous topic. Since phenomenology contains elements of practice it requires action for full understanding. Similar to logic and mathematics, one must go out and actually do something with its concepts and methods and begin to "see" the world phenomenologically to get at the practice's essence.

This short book approaches phenomenology through action. Following two introductory chapters, the book dives right into examples. Though all remain highly abstract, such as geometric shapes, Necker cubes, and visual illusions, they nonetheless outline a step by step method for moving from a literal-minded perspective ("I only see a cube, nothing else!") to a polymorphic-minded perspective ("I see a cube in 2D, 3D, from the left, from the right, etc."). This method inculcates a type of seeing that reveals possibilities in items of experience. Rather than merely explaining this technique, the book asks the reader to actually look at drawings in specific ways. Activity and engagement are required. This reveals two dominant strategies for extracting possibilities or variations from things: the hermeneutic and the transcendental. The former uses "stories" or descriptions to bring out non-obvious features (e.g., "imagine that you're looking up at a vaulted ceiling"). The latter uses a more analytic literal approach (e.g., look above the line, then turn the drawing on its side"). Through these experiences the polymorphic nature of the drawings emerge. And if abstract shapes can elicit such permutations, think what variations the concrete objects of reality contain.

Following the example, the book discusses, in the final two chapters, the "existential turn" that phenomenology took following Husserl. The experiencing subject became primary. Everyday experience and language took on a central role. Philosophers began to dig into cultural sedimentation to reveal the roots and presuppositions of tradition and the taken-for-granted. This was the ground laid by Heidegger and Sartre and developed over the last century. Lastly, the book introduces "Interdisciplinary Phenomenology" through the lenses of Natural Science, the Social Sciences, and the Arts. This section glimpses the contributions phenomenology can make to other pursuits.

Though one doesn't need a background in phenomenology to follow this book, reading a more general introduction to the subject first may illuminate this text. Here terminology arises and zooms by with sometimes cursory detail. Also, context may be lost on those who plunge right into the subject with no notion of the why and what of this new way of seeing. Nonetheless, this book's central chapters provide a unique insight that no one interested in this subject should miss. Going through the examples will not only enlighten further phenomenological reading, but also hint at a new way of seeing the world, and all its marvelous polymorphicity, in a whole new way.