ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a simple and clear outline of the aims of phenomenology. The central concept of phenomenology, and the seed from which it grew, is the notion of intentionality. George Crabbe has a narrative poem called The Lover’s Journey that would have delighted Husserl. It begins with the thoroughly phenomenological statement: ‘It is the soul that sees; the outward eyes Present the object; but the mind descries.’ Sex in general forms an interesting subject of study for the phenomenologist because it is partly an emotional and partly a physical activity; and both aspects are subject to ‘intentionality.’ Phenomenology starts from the recognition that the outside world is ‘really there’. Rene Descartes had known about wavelengths and had some training in phenomenology. It will be seen why phenomenology has an important bearing on existentialism. Philosophy is usually defined as the attempt to understand the universe, and existentialism is concerned with man’s relation to the universe.
