ABSTRACT
Phenomenology is about how real human subjects experience the world. Phenomenological approaches nest with the humanistic branch of postmodernism. Three philosophers are credited with being the founders of phenomenology: Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Martin Heidegger is the second person regarded as a founder of phenomenology. Heidegger’s thought can be related not just to phenomenology in archaeology but also to new materialism. To Heidegger, phenomenology is a method for the study of experience. The third philosopher considered to be a founder of phenomenology is Maurice Merleau-Ponty, from France. The use of the term “phenomenology” is increasing in archaeology, as has “semiotics.” Christopher Tilley’s insistence that meaning results from the interaction between humans and materials is fully congruent with Heidegger’s version of phenomenology. Intersubjectivity creates collective experiences, and Heidegger thought that these collective experiences have an important time dimension.
