Phenomenology LAURA RUSSELL Denison University, USA KIMBERLY FIELD-SPRINGER Berry College, USA Introduction As a philosophical framework phenomenology seeks to understand how lived moments are gauged through human perception and conceived through conscious awareness. As inherently relational, human experience is always in-the-moment somewhere surrounded by something(s). Terefore, the interactions between individuals and their surroundings prompt stimuli that activate an assortment of human senses in response. How these sensorial experiences, such as sight, smell, taste, and touch among others, become recognized, interpreted, and expressed is of primary interest for phenomenology. History Te ontological, epistemological, and axiological understandings of various phe- nomenological traditions difer among philosophers. Philosopher Edmund Husserl, known as the father of phenomenology, ofered a framework for understanding a subject’s intentionality for practicing an activity that is both imaginary and/or directly observed. Husserl’s (1967) transcendental phenomenology investigates perception, imagination, thought, and emotion by bracketing judgments in order to peel back layers of rational explanations and get to the essence of an object in our world prior to linguistic inscription. For instance, possible descriptions of fre may include that which burns, throws colorful fames, ofers warmth and reassurance, and can otherwise elicit sensations of horror. Husserl’s method demonstrates how individuals derive conscious perceptions through deducing meaning from their available sensory experiences. Martin Heidegger (1927/1996) takes a diferent stance by instead focusing on the need to understand a subject’s uptake of phenomena. A subject interacts with all things simultaneously as a being-in-the-world, also referred to as a dwelling. As an existential phenomenologist, Heidegger suggests that all objects inherit meaning from our prior experiences with them. Te act of collecting wood for burning, piling the stack, and Te International Encyclopedia of Health Communication. Evelyn Y. Ho, Carma L. Bylund, and Julia C. M. van Weert (Editors-in-Chief), Iccha Basnyat, Nadine Bol, and Marleah Dean (Associate Editors). © 2023 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2023 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/9781119678816.iehc0601 10.1002/9781119678816.iehc0601, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781119678816.iehc0601 by Laura Russell , Wiley Online Library on [13/02/2023]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License