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This method was developed by the eminent German (born Austrian)
philosopher Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) in his Ideen zu
einer reinen Phänomenologie und phänomenologischen
Philosophie (1913). It is essentially a gnoseological
method, characterized by two fundamental steps: (1) the
so-called eidetic reduction; (2) the phenomenological reduction
properly speaking.
1. By the eidetic reduction everything is reduced to its
essential, irreducible content, quite independent of its
genesis in the outer world, its existence, etc. E.g., Tyrrell's
classical analysis of apparitions, H. H. Price's investigation
of the "Idea of Another World" would be such an
eidetic investigation. According to Husserl, by this method
we can establish many kinds of so-called regional ontologies,
containing the fundaments of all kinds of sciences.
2. In the phenomenological reduction every "object"
in the widest sense of the word is reduced to a mere phenomenon,
given-ness for consciousness. According to Husserl, each
kind of object essentially demands a special kind of consciousness
in which it presents itself in the most adequate and original
manner. It is one of the aims of phenomenology to find this
optimal kind of experience for each object according to
the regional ontology to which it belongs. (Such objects
are not only outer, sensual objects; they may be anything
whatever:
mathematical objects, sociological-psychological, parapsychological
objects, etc.)
Also, consciousness for Husserl is not a specific human
consciousness, but consciousness as such, "pure"
consciousness; its laws accordingly must be valid for any
consciousness as far as the same object is concerned. Consciousness
is characterized by what Husserl calls intentionality, the
way in which any givenness is meant by, represented to,
known by consciousness. (Husserl thinks it is fundamentally
wrong to say anything is "imaged" by consciousness.)
We have to distinguish in this intentionality the objective
and the mental side of experience of any kind. The mental
side Husserl calls noesis (e.g., the vivacity, sharpness,
emotional value of an experience), the objective side noema
(the same object e.g., may be given in original self-representation,
as memory, merely meaning it in an "empty conception
without fulfilment," etc.). In a reflexive perception
(being an immanent internal perception) the noesis of the
different kinds of experience of all sorts of objects must
be investigated. (This is as important for the mental side
of consciousness as is the development of regional ontologies
for the constitution of the fundaments of all sciences.)
It is of paramount importance to establish the best way
of original self-presentation for any kind of object.
This also is of the greatest importance for parapsychology
and its phenomena. As an example a phenomenological analysis
of telepathy was attempted. It was shown that telepathy
is the most adequate and original experience of the "other
mind," "giving" it as adequately as "own"
experiences of the subject. This is important, as in gnoseology
empathy was regarded as the only way of attaining cognition
of the other mind. Telepathy is the original experience
of the other subject, its moods, emotions, thoughts, etc.
It must not be limited to the cognition of the contents
of the sender's consciousness (i.e., to mere thought-transference).
In telepathy the "atmosphere" of the sender permeates
the experience transferred; that is how the "receiver"
can know from whom it comes. This is an essential feature
of telepathy such analyses must be carried on and also applied
to other psychic phenomena. Combined with the other methods
employed, it may prove very fertile in future parapsychological
investigation.
Source
Proceedings of the International Conference of Parapsychological
Studies, Utrecht, 1953 (New York: Parapsychology Foundation,
1955), 114-115.
Gerda Walther was a student of Husserl and other early phenomenologists.
Based on her own personal theistic mystical experiences
she wrote Phänomenology der Mystik (1923).
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