Phenomenology

Something of an older sister to existentialism, phenomenonology shares several of the same ideas as its sibling, and the line between the two is often unclear.

Founded by Edmund Husserl, phenomenonology is a philosophical model that was made to be free of presupposition. The idea is to study and describe objects and events only by what could be seen clearly. Anything else that was not immediately concious was to be excluded. Rather than deductive or empircal methods, Husserl's method was to rely on the information gathered by the senses and to throw away all scientific or metaphysical knowledge or beliefs in order to study phenomenon more accurately.

This importance on human cognition rather than belief or assumption is mirrored in existentialism. Albert Camus takes a phenomenological view to the world with his descriptions of knowledge:

This heart within me I can feel, and I judge that it exists. This world around me I can feel, and I likewise judge that it exists. There ends all my knowledge, and the rest is construction.

Beyond simply percieving phenomenon, this method reflects further in the entire nature of existentialism. While phenomenonology is the method of percieving things as what they are, not what they mean, existentialism is the method of living life for what it is, not for what it means beyond what we know of it.

(Note: This is not the full scope of the phenomenological movement, but was meant only to explain its relevance to existentialism.)

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