Dancing in the rain, Berlin 2013 © Knut Skjærven
Phenomenology is all about attitudes.
Phenomenology deals with two types of attitude.
First there is the natural attitude.
Then there is the phenomenological (or philosophical) attitude.
In the natural attitude you deal with things in a practical way. It is quick and to the point.
Most of the things you deal with in your life is done in the natural attitude. You could not do without it.
Driving a car, going shopping, making dinner or having a bath are all things you do not have to think too much about.
You just do it.
In the phenomenological attitude you map the structures and content of your consciousness at the same time as you do your other thing.
Like for instance taking or reading a photograph.
Is that possible?
Yes it is. But you need to train it.
Moving from the natural attitude to the phenomenological attitude you transcend the one to include the other.
By having your experience in the natural attitude in brackets you can "disconnect it" at the same time it is still there for you.
Find this difficult to graps?
I can assure you it is all about knowledge and training :-).
All can do it.
Looking at the photograph above in the natural attitude you see a couple dancing.
Bracket that and you can track your working consciousness as to how and why you have this picture as a couple dancing.
Doing that you dramatically expand your vision.
You learn to see what is there as well as what is not there. The visible as well as the invisible.
The point is that all things and all experience comes contexts.
More about contexts in another post.
All the best :-).
Copenhagen, July 4, 2024
© Knut Skjærven on text and picture.
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By the way, the project On Phenomenology (this project) is mainly inspired by the thought and writings of Edmund Husserl (1859-1938).
Husserl is considered the father of phenomenology. People like Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961), Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) and lots and lots of others rely upon his work.
I will leave it to you investigate the area on your own.
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