Phenomenology & Practice

Editor's Note

Tone Saevi — 2019-05-31

Editor's Note

Editorial: On the Primacy of Language in Phenomenological Research

Erika Goble — 2019-05-31

Editorial

Reduction in Practice: Tracing Husserl's Real-Life Accomplishment of Reduction as Evidenced by his Idea of Phenomenology Lectures

Juha Himanka — 2019-05-31

Husserl claimed that reduction is the true starting point of phenomenological research, but to figure out how this deed should actually be accomplished has turned out to be a very challenging task. In this study, I explicate how Husserl accomplished reduction during his series of lectures entitled The Idea of Phenomenology. He does not state it explicitly, but what actually happened on the last day of the lectures can be seen as consistent with his descriptions of reduction as an act. Understood in this way, reduction is the model of how to do philosophy. The result of Husserl’s reduction is the correlation between appearance and “that which appears” or, to use Husserl’s later terminology, between noēsis and noēma. When this correlation is understood as an outcome of reduction and not as a result of an analysis, we, as
readers of Husserl, will be in a better position to avoid natural attitude in our interpretations.

Echoes and Shadows: A Phenomenological Reconsideration of Plato's Cave Allegory

Edvin Ostergaard — 2019-05-31

In the cave allegory, Plato illustrates his theory of ideas by showing that the world man senses and tries to understand, actually only is a dim representation of the real world. We know the allegory for its light and shadow; however, there is also sound and echo in the cave. In this article, I discuss whether the narrative of the prisoners in the cave is in tune with an audial experience and whether an allegory led by sound corresponds to the one led by sight. I start with a phenomenological analysis of the cave as a place of sound. After that, I elaborate on the training of attentive listening skills and its ramifications for pedagogical practice. I conclude that there are profound differences between seeing and listening and that sound reveals different aspects of “the real” compared to sight. The significance of Plato’s cave allegory should be evaluated in relation to modern, scientific thought characterised by a visual-spatial language. With support of this allegory, the light-shadow polarity has become the Urbild of represented reality. At the same time, a visually oriented culture of ideas repeatedly confirms Plato’s cave allegory as its central metaphor. Finally, an elaboration on the sounds in the cave proves to be fruitful in an educational sense: The comparison of sound and sight sharpens the differences and complementarities of audial and visual experiences.

Pedagogical Practices in Vocational Education

Wouter Pols — 2019-05-31

What is it like to teach at a vocational school? What are the pedagogical challenges for teachers who are responsible for teaching young people going into the trades? Since September 2015, the Research Center Urban Talent of the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences has conducted field research at six different schools of vocational education. As a member of the center’s research staff, I conducted a series of conversations with a team of vocational teachers at each school between September 2015 and May 2018. This paper offers an account of one of these conversations. It focuses on the pedagogical experiences of vocational teachers, and it aims to get the teachers to articulate their experiences and to investigate their meanings. My approach was phenomenological. The teachers were encouraged to share and reflect on their experiences.

The Phenomenology of the First Date after Connecting Online

Nicholas Jacobs — 2019-05-31

The proliferation of technology has changed the ways we are able to interact with the world, and, in turn, how we are able to interact with others. In recent years, online dating applications have become commonplace for connecting with others in search of romantic relationships. This paper reflects on the phenomenology of the first date after connecting online and explores several aspects of this unique experience of introduction, expectation, and relation. What occurs between two people online that leads them to suggest meeting for the first time in the real world? How does communicating online differ from face to face encounters? Exploring the phenomenology of the first date after connecting online invites us to wonder about the nature of dating today and in the past.

A Review of H. Peter Steeves' Beautiful, Bright, and Blinding: Phenomeological Aesthetics and the Life of Art

Dylan van der Schyff — 2019-05-31

Review

Memorial for Carina Henriksson

Tone Saevi — 2019-05-31

Memorial