Heideggerian Phenomenology Research Articles

“Knowledge and taste go together”: Postdramatic Theatre, Écriture Féminine, and Feminist Politics

This article contributes to the emerging field of feminist approaches to postdramatic theatre. Through documenting and discussing my practice-as-research performance Rings, I suggest that there is an analogous relationship between postdramatic poetics and Helene Cixous’s ecriture feminine in regard to how both reformulate masculine-coded paradigms of knowledge. Rings is the result of a practical research process that adapted Cixous’s articulations on prose writing into theatre. The source material for this was her turn towards thingness and Heideggerian phenomenology following her experience of Clarice Lispector’s work in 1978. The outcomes of the practical research indicate that through producing an experience of an object’s thingness or being-in-the-world, theatre, like Cixous’s prose, is able to envision an alternative, feminine epistemological approach. By testing the practical findings against theories of the postdramatic, I go on to propose that postdramatic practices too have the potential to produce this kind of knowing. As such, this article argues that postdramatic theatre might have a particular appeal for feminist theatre makers and scholars, while also demonstrating that Cixous’s theories are of continuing relevance to feminist theatre studies.

THE EXPERIENCE OF PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH CANCER IN TREATMENT FAILURE CONDITIONS

ABSTRATC Study based on Heidegger's existential phenomenology. The objective was to understand the experience of parents of children with cancer in treatment failure conditions. Participants were eight parents of eight patients seen at an oncology center from January to May 2014. Interviews were conducted guided by the question: Tell me about your experience of being a family member of a child with cancer in treatment failure conditions? Three ontological themes emerged: the phenomenon unveiled in the discovery of the child's cancer; experiencing the process involving the child's cancer; unveiling the possibility of the child's death. It was evidenced that the experience of these parents was permeated by intense and devastating feelings towards the early loss, annihilating dreams of a desired future. It is essential for nursing to look more attentively at the family of terminal patients.

Recognition in Blue

ABSTRACT Gerald Early's remark that black people are seminally important to the modern world because they created the blues is examined as a contribution to the politics of recognition that deviates from the liberal model that dominates in political theory. Central to this deviation is the politics of honor and Paul Corcoran's distinction between formal and aesthetic recognition. The politics of aesthetic recognition is examined here through Hans-Georg Gadamer's discussion of hermeneutics in Truth and Method as well as through Martin Heidegger's phenomenology and philosophy of Dasein (being-there), inspired by Aristotle's Rhetoric, and his writings on art. The significance of art and specifically of the blues to the politics of recognition goes beyond the representation or the relaying of others' voices, in that it calls forth modes of being-there over against difference.

Wittgenstein and Heidegger

Wittgenstein and Heidegger

Waiting in the seat of sensation: the Brown existentialism of Ryan Rivera

This article considers the work of queer Puerto Rican avant-garde multimedia artist, Ryan Rivera, by focusing on four of his very short experimental videos from his series Body/Psyche. The author argues that his art performs a mode of Brownness that operates as a shared sense of endurance between both the spectator and artist, or in what the author calls an aesthetics of mediated ontologies in brief durations. Through an engagement with Heideggerian phenomenology, the author contends that Rivera's sardonic, aggressive, and histrionic videos situate the viewer directly in the seat of sensation where Brownness unfolds as a waiting-with and a waiting-on, oriented by limited control over one's labor. Violence and melodrama intensify and elongate the short timeframe of each video, enacting Brownness-as-waiting. The author also highlights how waiting is not a neutral act: it is a specific aesthetic and political exercise for a Brown subject that performs within what the author terms, a genealogy of Brown existentialism that imagines politics not as something we arrive at, but as something that we await. Rivera demonstrates how such waiting is in fact the condition of existence called Brown existentialism.

Anxiety and Aporia: Or, What, for Lacan, Makes Deconstruction Reassuring?

While originally Lacan seconds Heidegger's contention that ‘anxiety has no object’, in the early 1960s, he dismisses his own earlier position as a childish reassurance and argues, to the contrary, that ‘anxiety is not without an object’. With particular attention to his use of the double negative, ‘not without’, this essay examines this turning point in Lacan's thinking in order to explain the opposition between his psychoanalytic critical theory and Derrida's deconstruction. The arguments that Lacan brings to bear on his work of the 1950s closely approximate those that Derrida levels against Heidegger in the formulation of his own concept of ‘the aporia of the impossible’. Indeed, as commentators often emphasise, the formal logic of Lacan's later thinking is strictly isomorphic with Derrida's philosophy; and their respective concepts of anxiety and aporia are frequently misconstrued, accordingly, as simply identical. However, insofar as Lacan discerns a content in this formal negativity, contesting the idealism of his earlier theory and reasserting the materialist objectivity of the Freudian ‘lost object,’ as intractably Real, the two do not coincide. On the contrary, Lacan's repudiation of Heidegger's concept of anxiety extends equally to Derrida's aporia, as if, for Derrida, Heidegger's existential phenomenology were not reassuring enough.

Understanding receptivity to informal supportive cancer care in regional and rural Australia: a Heideggerian analysis.

The concept of receptivity is a new way of understanding the personal and social factors that affect a person living with and beyond cancer, and how these factors influence access to formal supportive care service provision and planning. This article contributes to new knowledge through applying the concept of receptivity to informal supportive cancer care in regional Australia. Literature indicates that a cancer diagnosis is a life-changing experience, particularly in regional communities, where survival rates are lower and there are significant barriers to accessing services. Heideggerian phenomenology informed the design of the study and allowed for a rich and nuanced understanding of participants lived experiences of informal supportive cancer care. These experiences were captured using in-depth interviews, which were subsequently thematically analysed. Nineteen participants were recruited from across regional Victoria, Australia. Participants self-reported a range of stages and types of cancer. Significantly, findings revealed that most participants were not referred to, and did not seek, formal supportive care. Instead, they were receptive to informal supportive care. Understanding receptivity and the role of anxiety and fear of death has implications for partners, family, community members, as well as professionals working with people with living with and beyond cancer.

Life experiences of elderly with cancer pain: the existential comprehensive approach

Understanding the experiences of elderly with cancer pain. Qualitative research based on Heidegger's phenomenology. 12 elderly cancer patients from a city in northwest Paraná were interviewed from November 2013 to February 2014. Analysis performed by vague, median and interpretive understanding which resulted in two ontological themes: Cancer pain: unveiling the imprisonment and impositions experienced by the elderly, and Unveiling the anguish of living with cancer pain; it revealed not only how the elderly experience pain in their daily lives, but also how hard it is to live with its particularities. Cancer pain has biopsychosocial repercussions for the elderly, generating changes in their existence in the world, requiring holistic and authentic care.

Patients' experiences of technology and care in adult intensive care.

To investigate patients' experiences of technology in an adult intensive care unit. Technology is fundamental to support physical recovery from critical illness in Intensive Care Units. As well as physical corollaries, psychological disturbances are reported in critically ill patients at all stages of their illness and recovery. Nurses play a key role in the physical and psychological care of patients;, however, there is a suggestion in the literature that the presence of technology may dehumanise patient care and distract the nurse from attending to patients psychosocial needs. Little attention has been paid to patients' perceptions of receiving care in a technological environment. This study was informed by Heideggerian phenomenology. The research took place in 2009-2011 in a university hospital in England. Nineteen participants who had been patients in ICU were interviewed guided by an interview topic prompt list. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using Van Manen's framework. Participants described technology and care as inseparable and presented their experiences as a unified encounter. The theme 'Getting on with it' described how participants endured technology by 'Being Good' and 'Being Invisible'. 'Getting over it' described why participants endured technology by 'Bowing to Authority' and viewing invasive technologies as a 'Necessary Evil'. Patients experienced technology and care as a series of paradoxical relationships: alienating yet reassuring, uncomfortable yet comforting, impersonal yet personal. By maintaining a close and supportive presence and providing personal comfort and care nurses may minimize the invasive and isolating potential of technology.

Phenomenology and Metaphysics

Moore claims, refreshingly, that Heidegger’s Being and Time is a metaphysical work. Moore also claims, strikingly, that Heidegger, indeed phenomenology more generally, would be better off dropping its metaphysical pretensions. Moore objects that phenomenology can have genuine metaphysical import only by incurring commitment to an untenable idealism. I defend Heidegger against this objection. Heideggerian phenomenology is metaphysical—it raises the question of, and makes commitments about, what it is for things to be—without any untenable idealism.

The Concept "Quality of Life" from a Heideggerian Phenomenological Perspective By

To use phenomenology congruently, the philosophical backgroundmust be understood as well as the adaptation of the philosophicalbasis to research in the caring sciences. This paper philosophized one of the emerging concept which focus on the care of patients with chronic diseases; which is quality of life” (QoL) from the Heideggerian phenomenological perspective and also discussed the concept Quality of Life, then found the similarities between Heideggerian phenomenology and the concept Quality of Life. QOL is a human experience, which is unique to each person's set of circumstances. It encompasses each person's way of being, and how they give and derive meaning from their everyday practices. The most appropriate methodology to gain such understanding about QOL is interpretive phenomenology. Thus, I confirm that the QOL can be studied as a research by using a qualitative approach. Nursing deal with illness because illness is a human experience, and both QOL and interpretive phenomenology deals with ontology and deal with the patient as a whole.

Reviews and Interviews

Gschwandtner begins by warning that the two loaded terms found in the title (postmodernism and apologetics) are, for many, incompatible. If apologetics is, as she contends, a militant defense of Christian beliefs (or at least of the existence of a monotheistic God), and postmodernism a militant rejection of any such worldview, how then can the two be reconciled? What's more, of the twelve twentieth-century philosophers covered in the book's thirteen chapters, how many could rightly be characterized as either postmodernists or apologists, let alone both?These are the questions that Gschwandtner opens with. If the reader maintains a second-century view of apologetics and a 1960s view of postmodernism, these questions will remain unanswered. If, however, we stretch our understanding of apologetics to the exploration and justification of faith within contemporary thought, and limit our understanding of postmodernism to skepticism towards metanarratives (and of objective, distantiated truth claims), we see how the two may relate. And, on these terms, they do.Postmodern Apologetics? is a compelling study of how twentieth-century philosophy stemming from the phenomenological tradition has impacted on, and enabled, contemporary trends within philosophy of religion. The book is in three parts: Preparations, Expositions and Appropriations. Part 1 (Preparations) outlines the foundational contributions of three major thinkers: Heidegger, Levinas and Derrida. While often characterized by their ambivalence towards theological questions and concerns within their oeuvres, these three philosophers are seen by Gschwandtner to have set the groundwork for contemporary debates on both religious experience and religious language. Part 2 (Expositions) considers how the phenomenological ideals identified in Part 1 were expounded upon by a variety of contemporary French thinkers, ranging from the late Paul Ricoeur to Emmanuel Falque. Part 3 (Appropriations) tracks how key aspects of twentieth-century continental philosophy have recently been appropriated by three philosophers in the United States for the purpose of formulating a modern Christian apologia.PART 1: PREPARATIONSThe focal point of Part 1 is the commentary of Heidegger in the first chapter. Gschwandtner maintains that various aspects of Heidegger's ontology set the phenomenological context in which all subsequent thinkers operated, even when aspects of his thought were challenged (38).Gschwandtner begins by offering a precis of what she terms Heidegger's phenomenology of religion. Her emphasis is placed on two fundamental concepts which would be seen to impact on the French and American based philosophers discussed in later chapters. The first of these is Heidegger's understanding of onto-theo-logy as derived from his deconstruction of the metaphysical tradition. Here, Heidegger contends that ontology and theology had been problematically conflated from the very origins of metaphysics. By proposing a conceptual distancing of the two modes of thought, Heidegger is seen by Gschwandtner to have opened a different way to speak about the divine (30). This, in turn, has enabled much of the thinking of Marion and a host of other, more religiously motivated, theorists.The second crucial concept, stemming from Heidegger's hermeneutical writings, is his understanding of truth as aletheia (or un-concealment). Truth, in this respect, is seen as distinct from the objective, verifiable truth sought by the natural sciences. Though an often-neglected feature of Heidegger's work, Gschwandtner correctly observes that his existential understanding of truth (and the concept of meditative thinking which follows from it) offers a basis for twentieth-century hermeneutical philosophy. This chapter discusses neither the romantic hermeneutical origins of this line of enquiry, nor how it was later developed by H. Gadamer. It does however convincingly argue that this is perhaps Heidegger's greatest contribution to critical theory, underpinning the critiques of art laid out by Marion and Chretien (33), and heavily informing Ricoeur's conceptual distinction between verification and manifestation (34). …

Phenomenology, Psychotherapy and the Quest for Intersubjectivity

Intersubjectivity is a key concept in phenomenology as well as in psychology and especially in psychotherapy, given the reliance of the therapeutic process on its location in relationship. While psychotherapy encompasses a range of what Owen (2006) terms “talking therapies”, this paper focuses mainly on the Freudian model of psychoanalysis and its connection with Husserlian and Heideggerian phenomenology respectively. Freud’s recognition that symptoms have meaning, and that the methodical disclosing of their meaning needs to be guided by the experience of the patient, accords with the emphasis of phenomenology on empathic attunement to the lived experience of the other. Insofar as the orientation of psychoanalysis towards methodically disclosing meaning gives it a hermeneutic dimension, it is also compatible methodologically with the interpretative mode of phenomenology. While Karlsson (2010, p. 13) identifies seven centrally significant “points of connection” between psychoanalysis and phenomenology, Thompson (2005, p. 40) suggests that “psychoanalysis is already phenomenological in its latency … . Indeed, Freud’s principles of technique make little sense outside a phenomenological context”.Can it thus be claimed that, in the quest for intersubjectivity, sufficient common ground exists for meaningful dialogue between psychotherapy, psychoanalysis and phenomenology in general, and between Sigmund Freud, Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger in particular? That is what this paper seeks to explore.The paper proceeds from pointing to the ambiguity of the Freudian mode as simultaneously natural scientific and hermeneutic to exploring the fundamental points of difference and commonality between psychoanalysis and phenomenology, and in particular the significance of the role of the unconscious and intentionality in psychoanalysis and phenomenology respectively, as well as the orientation of both towards greater understanding of one’s being in the world. Ultimately, however, the authors conclude that, while the points of commonality would seem conducive to dialogue between the Freudian and the phenomenological in the psychotherapeutic domain, their differences in aims and approach, each shaped by a different view of humankind, continue to obstruct it. The quest for it nevertheless remains ongoing, as demonstrated not only by the academic endeavours of theoreticians such as Owen and Karlsson, but by the contemporary urge of second century psychoanalysis for a theoretically coherent turn away from the Cartesian and towards the authentically intersubjectively relational.

Presenting phenomenology: faithfully recreating the lived experiences of Surfer Girls

Phenomenology offers an appropriate philosophical orientation to investigate people's lived experiences. It is an approach that is now widely acknowledged and applied in the social sciences. Despite its increasing adaptation in diverse contexts, the use of phenomenology in leisure studies remains limited and presents many conceptual, theoretical and applied challenges to researchers. A significant challenge is presenting research findings in ways that faithfully present people's experiences. This paper provides reflexive insights into Laura's (the lead author's) attempts as a current Ph.D. candidate to embrace Heideggerian phenomenology to investigate the experiences of being a surfer. The paper is derived from Laura's thesis process, where she took part in 37 unstructured conversations with women surfers (‘Surfer Girls’), and incorporated her own experiences as a woman surfer into the study. In her thesis, Laura presents her findings in the form of ‘postcards’ to promote women surfer's individuality, and to make their words come to life. Text, visual and other aids are incorporated in ways that enrich the written word, and that set a ‘surfing scene’ and create a surfing life-world for the reader. This paper examines and explains the importance of integrating phenomenological method and analysis to give faithful voice to people's lived experiences, and suggests tools for presenting phenomenological findings. Finally, this paper justifies and promotes the use of phenomenology as an under-utilized means of deepening our understandings of people's leisure experiences.

Being a practitioner: an application of Heidegger's phenomenology.

To explain how Heidegger's phenomenology can be applied to investigations of practitioners' experiences and enhance research of roles. The application of phenomenology in nursing research has been subject to strong criticism. A recent phenomenological investigation of nurses' experiences of mentoring students has shown the value of applying Heidegger's ideas to understand practitioners' experiences. The author's experience of conducting a hermeneutic phenomenological study and influential literature. An inquiry into the author's application of Heidegger's philosophy to an empirical study. Heidegger's phenomenology was based on his concept of 'dasein', denoting existence as 'being in the world'. These ideas of existence are discussed in relation to the experiences of practitioners. A nurse or other practitioner's experiences of practice are explained according to three modes of being: absorbed in practice, noticing practice and contemplating practice. The paper shows how this layered understanding of a person's lifeworld can be incorporated into the design of empirical research. Heideggerian phenomenology provides a defendable framework in which to examine experience of practice. Given the expanding diversity of nursing roles, this methodology offers a route for improving our understanding of the implications for the nurses occupying particular roles.

Application of Heideggerian phenomenology to mentorship of nursing students.

To discuss interpretations of the lived experience of mentoring based on Heidegger's concept of dasein. The focus is on one main theme identified in an in-depth study of the lived experience of nurses mentoring students in their workplace: a world of hope for the nursing profession. This article focuses on dasein's 'existence', which is temporally aligned with having a future. Data relating to this theme are presented and interpreted with respect to the temporal aspect of dasein pertaining to 'having a future' and the Heideggerian existentials of existence and verstehen (understanding). The research design was based on hermeneutic phenomenology, exploring the mentors' 'being'. Data were gathered during 2008 through hermeneutic interviews, event diaries and participant drawings. Analysis occurred through sustained hermeneutic engagement with the data and application of an interpretive lens provided by Heidegger's care structure. Three sub-themes are identified: 'being a gatekeeper', 'sustaining a professional will', and 'passing on the special things'. Mentors can and need to engage on a deep personal level with their students if they are to intervene appropriately as gatekeepers to the profession.

The treatment of childhood cancer: unveiling the experience of parents.

Objectiveto understand the experiences of parents of children and adolescents with cancer undergoing treatment.Methodqualitative research, based on Heidegger's existential phenomenology, in which 13 parents of eight patients under 19 years of age, assisted by a charity association, were interviewed.Resultsthree topics resulted from the analysis: "Experiencing the unpleasantness of the treatment"; "Fearing the possibility of a frightening situation" and "Experiencing the carelessness of another person". It was showed that during and after the treatment, the parents experience the fear of the unknown and the uncertainty of the future of their children, especially as they witness the death of other children; they also experience the indifference of professionals working in the local healthcare units and feel helpless and insecure.ConclusionIt is essential that the healthcare professionals, particularly the nurses, reflect about their care actions focused on the parents of children with cancer, recognizing their existential needs with the purpose of assisting them in their situation.

The lived experience of the wound care nurse in caring for patients with pressure ulcers.

The aim of the study was to report the lived experience of the wound care nurse (WCN) in caring for patients with pressure ulcers (PU). WCN play an important role in caring for patients with PU, but the effect on caring for individuals with such wounds is poorly understood. A descriptive and interpretative study on the life worlds of spatiality, temporality, relationality and corporeality was carried out. Utilising the hermeneutic Heideggerian phenomenology, data were collected over a 3-month period in 2012 using in-depth interviews with five WCN. The interviews revealed eight themes: 'challenge', 'making sense of it all', 'coping and self-care', 'advocate of mine/making a difference', 'knowledge and technology', 'we have seen what can happen', 'holistic caring' and 'frustration'. Twenty-five sub-themes were also identified. WCN experienced a demanding and rewarding role of caring, influenced by the environment and the challenges with individuals living with PU. This study demonstrated an enriching yet challenging role. Recommendations for WCN, health care authorities and education providers include raising awareness of the importance of self-care, greater recognition of the effect of this role on patients with PU and changing education to include reflective practice and resilience strategies.

Uma compreensão Fenomenológico-Hermenêutica das compulsões na atualidade

A proposta desse estudo é trazer outro modo de pensar as compulsões além daquela que as interpreta como algo da ordem de uma subjetividade encapsulada. Esse outro modo consiste em trilhar um caminho que denominamos de fenomenológico-hermenêutico. Acreditamos, com isso, poder abrir a possibilidade de se romper com os modelos previamente legitimados no campo da psicologia. Para tanto, procederemos a uma análise das compulsões nos pressupostos metodológicos da fenomenologia hermenêutica de Heidegger, partindo da ideia de que a existência humana se constrói na articulação copertinente com o mundo e viabilizando, assim, uma interpretação das compulsões no horizonte histórico da técnica.

The Trauma Bubble

The aim of this study was to understand the lived experience of burn injury for Australian patients and families. Of specific interest was the period covering emergency and inhospital care and early experiences of transition into the community. Eighteen participants including patients with serious burn injury and close family members engaged in indepth, semistructured interviews. Data were analysed using Heideggerian phenomenology and were interpreted within the framework of Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of the body. Participants experienced substantial emotional trauma that was unrelated to burn size or severity. Emotional distress was highest amongst people with facial burns. Strong recollections of the accident and poorly managed pain seemed to exacerbate the experience of trauma. Patients described physical otherness, memories of consuming, embodied pain, and recycling of the initial catastrophe. Family members expressed vicarious suffering and were confronted by the physical otherness of their loved one. Participants were isolated in their "bubble of trauma" as they tried to contain grief and loss, and protect loved ones from their distress. Emotional trauma persisted after discharge challenging family functioning and adjustment. These findings support a systematic approach to identifying and responding to the emotional needs of patients and family, including early information about possible emotional reactions to traumatic events and proactive engagement with psychology services. Best practice approaches for early pain management should be a focus for both clinical care and further research.