I am in the same predicament when it comes to Phenomenology, at least as Husserl propounded it. One reason might be my "philosophical upbringing;" my philosophical mentors have been, broadly and variously, logicians, pragmatists, process philosophers, Humeans, and neo-Kantians. None of them were particularly "phenomenology friendly." However, I deny that my cluelessness about the virtues of phenomenology is only blind prejudice, acquired in the philosophical cradle, or through Skinnerian conditioning. I think I have good reasons for believing that a phenomenological approach is of only (very) limited value to the intellectual life of nursing today. Moreover, I feel exactly the same way about that line of thought, beginning with Kierkegaard, running through Nietzsche and ending (blessedly) with Sartre, which is labeled as "existentialism" for the sake of convenience. Let's leave existentialism for another post. And, this blog isn't a good vehicle for detailing all of the reasons why I don't think phenomenology is particularly valuable to nurses, or anyone else for that matter (except, perhaps, MA candidates in Sociology who want to justify getting a degree based on a thesis that really amounts to a mediocre autobiography). Instead, I'll just provide a sketch of one such reason, and wait for the fallout.
What, exactly, is phenomenology supposed to do for us? What makes it big news? Supposedly, if I am recalling Husserl correctly through the mists of time, it is supposed to 1) tell us how the mind works, and 2) provide a way to reach apodictic conclusions (conclusions which are indubitable in some way or another). Leaving aside the discussion of #1 for now, how does a phenomenological approach, per Husserl, accomplish feat #2? A follows: by setting aside any assumptions about the existence of an external world and studying only the way things seem, we reach conclusions about which we cannot be mistaken. Or so the story goes. We're all transcendental idealists now!
It isn't hard to see a particular reading of Kant (of which Kant himself might not approve) at the heart of this, admixed with a regrettable dose of Descartes and his attempt to beat the skeptical demon from the first person point of view (the wrong tactic, as far as I am concerned). Phenomenology, as thus described, is a sort of transcendental idealism, making its philosophical living on the supposed distinction between phenomena and noumena. The phenomenal, "lived" world; that world we can "know" about no matter what tricks Descartes' Demon, or mad alien scientists who have "envatted" us, are trying to pull. However, the noumenal, "external" world, the world of the "thing in itself," the world as it is from no particular point of view, is either 1) forever "out of bounds," something that it makes no sense (but only SEEMS to make sense) to even talk about, even though we are compelled in some way to do so, or 2) something which we somehow posit, or infer, on the basis of what we KNOW in virtue of the study of phenomena, or 3) something our minds construct (via mechanisms to be explained at some future, conveniently unspecified, date). On any of these interpretations, the possibility of error is supposedly excluded.
The initial plausibility of the first step in such a project is easy enough to sympathize with. It certainly seems that, as I type this, I am experiencing a seeming of "Stonewall the old black and tan coon dog snoozing on a mat in the corner," and that this is, indeed, apodictic. But, as I recollect, even Husserl would agree that this bit of information is neither particularly interesting nor useful. But there are lots of potentially useful and interesting things I DO want to know; things like: who will read this post, and what will they think of it? Will the Democrats regain control of Congress next week? Do I have any Wild Turkey left in the decanter?
These concepts of IPONS subscribers, fellow citizens, and Wild Turkey, in other words, are concepts of an objective reality; I do not conceive of them as appearances in my mind, but as features and fellows in a world I am happy I share with them. In the case of IPONS list subscribers, for example, my concepts are concepts of a real John Paley, John Drummond, Janet Holt, Catherine O'Neill, Geralyn Hayes, Helen Kohlen, Drerek, Sarah, et. al. My concepts of IPONS members are concepts of persons with bodies existing in an objective reality, extended in time and space, having minds and separate identities, offering handshakes and hugs, and existing outside of my (maybe envatted) brain and in no way dependent on it (fortunately for them - who in their right mind would want to be dependent on my mind for their existence? Or does the question beg the question?)
If the aforementioned memory serves, Husserl wasn't oblivious to this. To grossly oversimplify here, I read Husserl as attempting to demonstrate that we naturally, based on apodictic experience (or perhaps even prior to it), posit, or theorize, or just naturally assume the existence of, other "I's," who also experience a world of seemings, and this in turn gives rise to the conception of an objective world. For these reasons, it is open to Husserl to argue that the fact that my concepts are concepts of objectivity is just what I should expect. The difficulty here is that, the minute we start talking about naturally tending to posit other "I's," the certainty that was the desiderata of this project has disappeared. Why is it not possible that this "natural tendency" is systematically mistaken and misleading? How is it a better guide to the really real than "clear and distinct ideas," and, therefore, how are we any better off with Husserl than we were with Descartes?
Turning to the question of insights into the mind, here too phenomenology may not be really offering us what we need. We want to know not only how the mental seems to us, but also how minds (yours, mine, Stonewall's, George Bush's, our patients, etc) work in terms of interacting with this objective world Husserl claims to have shown that we cannot help but conceptualize. I recall nothing helpful in Husserl when THAT question is posed. Actually, it is less than clear that Husserl would even acknowledge that our minds DO interact with an external, objective reality; rather, I recall him saying at some point that the mind "conditions the possibility of the world," whatever that is supposed to mean.
Notice how most of these problems just go away when we stop goofing around in the philosophical first person, and start our inquiry from the third person point of view. Rather than solipsistically musing about my own seemings, I can begin inquiry when I behold Stonewall on the trail of that ancestral enemy of his blood, the raccoon, and undertake a study of this remarkable creature's truly wonderful capacities to know and act upon his world. Tom Nagel and his misdirected musings about bats notwithstanding, I can learn many things about what it is like to be Stonewall, and others of his brave and noble kind, and come to know how he is able to accomplish the truly amazing feats of which he is capable. There seems to be no conceptual barrier to doing the same thing with others of MY kind, as well, and no good reason to believe that what is true in their case is not also true in mine, and vice versa.
But, if the first person is the wrong place to begin, then phenomenology generally is the wrong tool to use. So, asks my Mom, "what does she see in him?"
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Writer, Adjunct Philosophy Professor, and Nurse. Formerly an Attorney. Political and Religious liberal (with a capital "L"). Gun lover (I AM American, after all is said and done). Dog lover.
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