Phenomenology
Phenomenology is at its core is an “intricate philosophy that thematizes consciousness and its functions.” (Giorgi, A., Giorgi, B., & Morley, 2017, p. 177). Rooted in psychology, phenomenology examines how human consciousness presents itself, and how it functions. Giorgi et al. (2017) noted that, “Consciousness is intentional, which means that it is primarily directed toward an object which may be real or not-real and which may actually be absent, and the object may be immanent to the conscious process or transcendent to it” (p. 177). Additionally,
consciousness is essentially non-sensorial. We become aware of consciousness in ways that are radically different from how we become aware of things. Consciousness is the means by which we become aware of all sorts of physical, material, biological phenomena but it itself is none of these things. It is the medium of access to anything whatsoever that can be experienced, including irreal (non-sensory) phenomena such as ideas or numbers, but we have awareness of consciousness itself without appearances. (p. 178)
As a result, there are several types of phenomenology, and this space will discuss both Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA, also known as Hermeneutic Phenomenology) and Transcendental Phenomenology (also known as Descriptive Phenomenology).