Scientific Phenomenology Research Articles

Scientific Phenomenology in Design Pedagogy: The Legacy of Walter Gropius and Gestalt Psychology

AbstractThis article examines the contribution of scientific phenomenology in design pedagogy through the theoretical relationships between the German art school Staatliches Bauhaus and the most important scientific phenomenological theories of the first half of the twentieth century. After showing the relationships between the Gestalt Theory and the principal teachers of the Bauhaus (Johannes Itten, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, László Moholy‐Nagy, Josef Albers), the pedagogical epistemology of Walter Gropius is critically presented. The epoché, the intersubjective criterion and the anti‐psychologism are examined. In conclusion, it is evidenced that Gropius was strongly influenced by Gestalt psychology. This undeclared influence was a necessary consequence of the fact that phenomenological attitude is a crucial operating modality for the concrete practice of design.

In Defense of Scientific Phenomenologies

Abstract Empiricism had dominated scientific activities for about three centuries but beginning with the 20th Century a new philosophy, phenomenology, began to develop and certain scientists who conducted research with humans began to turn to phenomenology as the basis for their scientific work rather than empiricism. What was known as the Utrecht School in Holland just after World War II, psychologists at Duquesne University during mid-twentieth century, pedagogists in Canada at about the same time and nurses later in the twentieth century all began to base their research on phenomenological philosophical principles rather than on empiricism. Certain philosophers criticized the approach of these scientists and offered their own praxis based directly on phenomenological philosophy. However, one of the members of the Duquesne University’s group strongly criticized the evaluation of his approach by the philosophers and demonstrated the significant errors of their criticism. The psychologist then clarified his scientific phenomenological approach toward psychological phenomena and emphasized the role of the phenomenological epoche’ and reduction for Husserlian scientific phenomenology.

Husserlian phenomenology in Korean nursing research: analysis, problems, and suggestions.

PurposeThis paper is a critical review of the descriptive phenomenological methodology in Korean nursing research. We propose constructive suggestions for the improvement of descriptive phenomenological methodology in light of Husserl’s phenomenological approaches.MethodsUsing the keywords of ‘phenomenology,’ ‘experience,’ and ‘nursing,’ we identify and analyze 64 Korean empirical phenomenological studies (selected from 282 studies) published in 14 Korean nursing journals from 2005 to 2018. The PubMed and the Korea Citation Index were used to identify the studies.ResultsOur analysis shows that all the reviewed articles used Giorgi’s or Colaizzi’s scientific phenomenological methodology, without critical attention to Husserl’s philosophical phenomenological principles.ConclusionThe use of scientific phenomenology in nursing research, which originated in North America, has become a global phenomenon, and Korean phenomenological nursing research has faithfully followed this scholarly trend. This paper argues that greater integration of Husserlian phenomenological principles into scientific phenomenological methodology in nursing research, such as participant-centered bracketing and eidetic reduction, is needed to ensure that scientific phenomenology lives up to its promise as a research methodology.

Husserlian Phenomenology in Korean Nursing Research: Analysis, Problems, and Suggestions

Purpose: This paper is a critical review of descriptive phenomenological methodology in Korean nursing research. We propose constructive suggestions for the improvement of descriptive phenomenological methodology in light of Husserl's phenomenological approaches. Methods: Using the key words of 'phenomenology,' 'experience,' and 'nursing,' we identify and analyze 64 Korean empirical phenomenological studies (selected from 282 studies) published in 14 Korean nursing journals from 2005 to 2018. The PubMed and the Korea Citation Index were used to identify the studies. Results: Our analysis shows that all the reviewed articles used Giorgi's or Colaizzi's scientific phenomenological methodology, without critical attention to Husserl's philosophical phenomenological principles. Conclusions: The use of scientific phenomenology in nursing research, which originated in North America, has become a global phenomenon, and Korean phenomenological nursing research has faithfully followed this scholarly trend. This paper argues that greater integration of Husserlian phenomenological principles into scientific phenomenological methodology in nursing research, such as participant-centered bracketing and eidetic reduction, is needed to ensure that scientific phenomenology lives up to its promise as a research methodology.

Resistiveness to Care as Experienced by Family Caregivers Providing Care for Someone With Dementia.

This research explored family caregivers' lived experiences of resistiveness to care when they provided care for people with dementia. The goal was to identify a general meaning of family caregivers' lived experiences to target potential areas for future nursing interventions to help family caregivers manage their caregiving role and provide a base for future research surrounding resistiveness to care. Descriptive phenomenology was used to provide descriptions of eight family caregivers who provided care for someone with dementia and experienced resistiveness to care. Family caregivers were recruited from Alzheimer's support groups from June to November 2014. Caregiver interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using scientific phenomenology to identify essential constituents of the experience. The identified general meaning structure contained five essential constituents. These included self-questioning of abilities; signal for increased future caregiver responsibilities; changed perception of personal self; unexpected emotional responses; and seeing a changed person, not the disease. Study findings represent family caregivers' lived perceptions of resistiveness to care, which are different from current research findings regarding nurses' perceptions of resistiveness to care. The identified meaning structure indicates focus areas for future research and for nursing interventions to help family caregivers manage their distress when experiencing resistiveness to care. Identification of the meaning caregivers ascribe to their lived experience of resistiveness to care (five essential constituents) provides nurses with opportunities to help family caregivers (coproviders of care) holistically. Supporting caregivers in their caregiving role can decrease caregiver distress when resistiveness to care occurs.

A Response to the Attempted Critique of the Scientific Phenomenological Method

Recently, a book (details are given below) was published, the sole purpose of which was to discourage researchers from using the scientific phenomenological method. The author (Paley, 1997; 1998; 2000) had previously been critical of nurses who had used the scientific phenomenological method but in the new book he goes after the originators of different methods of scientific phenomenological research and attempts to criticize them severely. In this review I defend only the scientific phenomenological method that is strictly based upon the thought of Edmund Husserl. Given the entirely negative project of only critiquing phenomenologically grounded scientific research, one would expect the author to be sensitive to the cautions historians and philosophers of science speak about when one attempts to criticize concepts and procedures that belong to a different research community. Paley, an empiricist, uses empirical criteria to criticize phenomenological work.Moreover, given the entirely negative project of critiquing phenomenologically grounded scientific research one would expect the author to be knowledgeable about phenomenology and the innovative research practices used by a new research community. However, (1) the author has only a thin, superficial understanding of phenomenology (e.g., it is not a technology; Paley, 2017, 109). One gets the impression that he only reads phenomenology in order to critique it. He displays an outsider’s understanding of it which means that his criticisms of it are faulty because he does not know how to think and dwell within the phenomenological framework; (2) he does not understand “discovery-oriented” research and he keeps judging such research according to criteria from the “context of verification” perspective which are the wrong criteria for “discovery-oriented” research; (3) he denigrates and reduces nursing research strategies because he interprets them to be based on pragmatic motivations only. He does not even grant that nurses can have authentic scientific motivations for seeking phenomenologically based methods; (4) he uses unfair rhetorical strategies in the sense that he uses strategies himself that he criticizes when others use them. The review below documents what has been summarized here.

Paintings as Architectural Space: “Guided Tours” by Cézanne and Hokusai

In this paper, we present a comparative analysis of 2 painters' (Cézanne and Hokusai) efforts to enhance active participatory perception (Gibson, 1966, 1979/1986) in their landscape work. As exemplars, we use Cézanne's paintings of Mount Sainte-Victoire and Hokusai's prints of the Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, noting how the similarities and differences in scientific and Chinese perspectives affect our perception of the landscapes. Although both artists used linear perspective and axonometry, geometric standards that originated in architecture and later were adopted by painters, they frequently violated these standards through innovative technical devices. As a result, Cézanne and Hokusai created unique architectural spaces into which we are not only invited but also guided by our own active perception and anticipated 20th-century artistic and scientific movements, including cubism, phenomenology, and Gibson's (1966) theory of active perception.

'Self' and the Problem of Consciousness

'Self' and the Problem of Consciousness

Electromagnetic induction spectroscopy for clearing landmines

An estimated 110 million landmines, mostly antipersonnel mines laid in over 60 countries, kill or maim over 26000 people a year. One of the dilemmas for removing landmines is the amount of false alarms in a typical minefield. Broadband electromagnetic induction spectroscopy (EMIS) is a promising technology that can both detect and identify buried objects as landmines. By reducing the number of false alarms, this approach significantly reduces costs associated with landmine removal. Combining the EMIS technology and a broadband EMI sensor, the scientific phenomenology that has potential applications for identifying landmines, unexploded ordnance, and hidden weapons at security checkpoints can now be explored.

Concerning the application of phenomenology to caring research.

When phenomenology is adopted as a framework for conducting nursing research, confusions sometimes arise because the researchers do not clarify their understanding of phenomenology. One of the biggest confusions is whether to follow philosophical phenomenological guidelines or scientific guidelines. While phenomenology began as a philosophy, it is argued here that the guidelines of scientific practice should be followed when conducting caring research. This article sharpens the distinction between philosophical and scientific phenomenology and demonstrates the confusion that can ensue when philosophical phenomenology is uncritically used as the model for scientific research. It does so by examining the work of Crotty.

The status of Husserlian phenomenology in caring research.

In a recent article, Paley criticized nursing research that claimed to be phenomenological and recommended that all reference to Husserl be dropped by nurses following certain qualitative procedures. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that Paley is wrong in his recommendation by showing that Paley (i) does not distinguish scientific phenomenology from philosophical phenomenology; (ii) is severely limited with respect to scholarly references that legitimate and articulate the scientific phenomenological method; (iii) seems to be unaware of the precedents for attempting scholarly analyses of the experiences and behaviors of others; and (iv) seems to be unaware of the internal history of the development of the scientific phenomenological method, which would show its close relationship to Husserl. Although deficiencies in nursing phenomenological research can be found, the solution is not to drive the researchers away from phenomenology, but to encourage them to apply the scientific phenomenological method in a better way.

The Meaning of Psychology from a Scientific Phenomenological Perspective

The Meaning of Psychology from a Scientific Phenomenological Perspective

Researchmanship: the scientific method and phenomenology: toward their peaceful coexistence in nursing.

Researchmanship: the scientific method and phenomenology: toward their peaceful coexistence in nursing.

Urban and wildland fire phenomenology

Mankind's concern with unwanted fires likely predates the first practical use of combustion in unrecorded history. Yet the science of fire protection has progressed more slowly than other aspects of combustion science. This state of affairs is due partially to the complexity of the problem and partially to the fact that relatively large technological payoffs generally are not anticipated to be obtained from scientific investigations of fires. Numerous promises and problems in the use of combustion in heat and power production, in locomotion and in industrial endeavors have generated intensive scientific efforts. By way of contrast, the ever-present fire problems have attracted fluctuating interest with a relatively low average level of concern. Although periodic disasters engender beliefs that more should be done in fire science, these beliefs often are short-lived and are replaced by more immediate concerns. Rarely has a disaster or a series of disasters provoked a program of scientific study of fire phenomena. The long-term efforts that have been mounted in the field instead have been motivated mainly by detailed comparative evaluations of the magnitude of the fire problem. There is reason to believe that today's rapid technological advances intensify problems of unwanted fires. Hosts of new processes and new combustible materials are emerging and finding their way into widespread use. Too often these innovations become commonplace before their fire hazards are properly understood. Therefore there seems to be justification for more extensive development and dissemination of knowledge in fire science. The present article has been prepared with the objective of bringing together many aspects of fire science for a nonspecialized audience. It is based on an undergraduate course by the same name, given only once, at the University of California, San Diego. It focuses on basic aspects of fire as a phenomenon, presented in an elementary but unified manner. It is more restricted than other treatments of the subject in that physiological, social, economic, organizational and operational aspects are not covered. However, it is broader in that both urban and wildland fires are considered equally; most presentations are slanted toward one or the other of these classes of fire problems. I hope that this article will help to introduce nonspecialists to the scientific phenomenology of fires.