ABSTRACT
Phenomenology refers to a cluster of approaches to philosophical and sociological enquiry, and to the study of art, deriving from the work of the German philosopher, Edmund Husserl (1859-1938). The diversity of approaches that have been described as phenomenology, not least in Husserl’s own work (which continually changed and developed over his career), means that a precise and all-encompassing definition of phenomenology is not easily given. However, something of the flavour of Husserl’s enterprise can be suggested, along with some indication of the reaction of his followers, who include Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean-Paul Sartre and Alfred Schutz.
