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Applied Phenomenology

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Encyclopedia of Phenomenology
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Definition

The use of ideas, methods, and concepts from philosophical phenomenology by nonphilosophical disciplines and practices

At its core, phenomenology is a philosophical endeavor. Its task is not to expand the scope of our empirical knowledge, but rather to step back and investigate the fundamental structures, relations, and capacities that are presupposed by any such empirical investigation. Given the distinctly philosophical nature of this venture, one might reasonably wonder whether phenomenology can offer anything of value to other disciplines. Can it at all inform empirical work? However, there can be no doubt about the answer to such questions. Phenomenology has been a source of inspiration for empirical science and the world beyond academic philosophy from the very start. Experimental psychology and psychiatry were among the first disciplines to take inspiration from Husserl’s call to attend to the phenomena. Already in 1912, Karl Jaspers published a short article...

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Zahavi, D. (2023). Applied Phenomenology. In: de Warren, N., Toadvine, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Phenomenology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47253-5_93-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47253-5_93-1

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