Bracketing (german: Einklammerung; also called phenomenological reduction, transcendental reduction or phenomenological ''epoché'') is the preliminary step in the philosophical movement of

phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...

describing an act of suspending judgment about the natural world to instead focus on analysis of experience. Its earliest conception can be traced back to

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and ...

who argued that the only reality that one can know is the one each individual experiences in their mind (or Phenomena).

Edmund Husserl , thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations) , thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view , thesis1_year = 1883 , thesis2_title ...

, building on Kant’s ideas, first proposed bracketing in 1913, to help better understand another’s phenomena.

Overview

Immanuel Kant

Though it was formally developed by

(1859–1938), phenomenology can be understood as an outgrowth of the influential ideas of

(1724-1804). Attempting to resolve some of the key intellectual debates of his era, Kant argued that ''

Noumena In philosophy, a noumenon (, ; ; noumena) is a posited object or an event that exists independently of human sense and/or perception. The term ''noumenon'' is generally used in contrast with, or in relation to, the term '' phenomenon'', whi ...

'' (fundamentally unknowable things-in-themselves) must be distinguished from ''

Phenomena A phenomenon ( : phenomena) is an observable event. The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon, which ''cannot'' be directly observed. Kant was heavily influenced by Gottfried ...

'' (the world as it appears to the mind). Kant, commonly misconceived as arguing that humans cannot have direct access to

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, re ...

, but only to the contents of their minds, argued rather that what is experienced in the mind is reality to us. Phenomenology grew out of this conception of phenomena and studies the meaning of isolated phenomena as directly connected to our minds. According to The Columbia Encyclopedia, "Modern philosophers have used 'phenomenon' to designate what is apprehended before judgment is applied." This may not be possible if

observation Observation is the active acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the perception and recording of data via the use of scientific instruments. The ...

is theory laden.

Husserl and ''Epoché''

Edmund Husserl included the ideas of Kant in developing his concept of bracketing, also referred to as ''epoché''. Though Husserl likely began developing the method of bracketing around 1906, his book, ''Ideas'', introduced it when it was published in 1913. Husserl reinterpreted and revitalized the ''

epoché Epoché ( ἐποχή ''epokhē'', "cessation") is an ancient Greek term. In Hellenistic philosophy it is a technical term typically translated as "suspension of judgment" but also as "withholding of assent". In the modern philosophy of Phenomeno ...

'' of

Pyrrhonism Pyrrhonism is a school of philosophical skepticism founded by Pyrrho in the fourth century BCE. It is best known through the surviving works of Sextus Empiricus, writing in the late second century or early third century CE. History Pyrrho of ...

as a permanent way of challenging the

dogma Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Islam ...

tic naivete of life in the “natural attitude” and motivating the transformation to ''theoria'', or the theoretical attitude of the disinterested spectator, which is essential both to modern science and to a genuine transcendental philosophy. Bracketing (or ''epoché'') is a preliminary act in the phenomenological

analysis Analysis ( : analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (3 ...

, conceived by Husserl as the suspension of the trust in the objectivity of the world. It involves setting aside the question of the real existence of a contemplated object, as well as all other questions about the object's physical or objective nature; these questions are left to the

natural sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeat ...

. For example, the act of seeing a horse qualifies as an experience, whether one sees the horse in person, in a dream, or in a hallucination. 'Bracketing' the horse suspends any judgement about the horse as ''noumenon'', and instead analyses the ''phenomenon'' of the horse as constituted in intentional acts. Bracketing may also be understood in terms of the phenomenological activity it is supposed to make possible: the "unpacking" of phenomena, or, in other words, systematically peeling away their symbolic meanings like layers of an onion until only the thing itself as meant and experienced remains. Thus, one's subjective intending of the bracketed phenomenon is examined and analyzed in phenomenological purity. Additionally, Husserl differentiated two types of bracketing which he called universal epoché and local epoché. Universal epoché requires the suspension of assumptions regarding all aspects of existence. Local epoché can be understood as the suspension of assumptions regarding a certain set of particular assumptions, presumably pertaining to whatever is being examined. Husserl viewed universal epoché as stronger than local epoché. To return to the example of the horse, applying local epoché would include suspending all prior assumptions regarding that particular horse, such as its appearance or temperament. Applying universal epoché in this example would likely mean suspending all assumptions regarding all horses or even all animals or all forms of life in general.

Notes

References

* Creswell, J.W. (2007). ''Qualitative inquiry and research design''. Sage, Thousand Oaks (CA). * Moustakas, C. (1994). ''Phenomenological research methods''. Sage, Thousand Oaks (CA).

External links