Phenomenon

Kant's use of phenomenon

Phenomenon has a specialized meaning in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant who contrasted the term 'Phenomenon' with 'Noumenon'. Phenomena constitute the world as we experience it, as opposed to the world as it exists independently of our experiences (thing-in-themselves, 'das ding an sich'). Humans cannot, according to Kant, know things-in-themselves, only things as we experience them. Thus philosophy should concern itself with understanding the process of experience itself.

The concept of 'Phenomena' led to a tradition of philosophy known as Phenomenology. Leading figures in this tradition include Hegel, Husserl, Heidegger and Derrida.

Kant's account of phenomena has also been understood as influential in the development of psychodynamic models of Psychology, and of theories concerning the ways in which the brain, mind and external world interact.

Phenomenon in the general sense

In general, apart from its specialized use as a term in philosophy, phenomenon stands for any observable event. Phenomena make up the raw data of science. Phenomena are often exploited by technology.

It is possible to list the phenomena which are relevant to almost any field of endeavor, for example, in the case of optics and light one can list observable phenomena under the topic
optical phenomenon.

The possibilities are many, for example:

• Anomalous phenomenon (parapsychology)
• Biological phenomenon (biology)
• Chemical phenomenon (chemistry)
• Electrical phenomenon (electricity)
• Geological phenomenon (geology)
• Hydrological phenomenon (hydrology)
• Meteorological phenomenon (weather)
• Optical phenomenon (optics)
• Physical phenomenon (physics)
• Statistical phenomena (statistics)
• Thermal phenomenon (thermodynamics)

There is a class of phenomena which lie outside generally accepted knowledge which knowledgeable scientists tend to discount. They are collected and discussed under the topic anomalous phenomenon

See also