Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 23:23:35 -0500 From: "Jay R. Feierman" To: evolutionary-psychology@yahoogroups.com Subject: [evol-psych] Phenomenology I initially used the term, "phenomenology," in a previous posting a few days ago in the sentence, "Why do ethologists want the definition of behavior to be purely descriptive or phenomenological and the cognitive and evolutionary psychologists want to add other properties into the definition? " Then I see in another posting by Robert Stonjek a day or two agao, "Subjective data is collected scientifically in the discipline of phenomenology ("the study of the development of human consciousness and self-awareness as a preface to philosophy or a part of philosophy" - Merriam-Webster) and can be done so consistently in any discipline." I looked up phenomenology in Webster's New Twentieth Century Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd edition, 1983. Under phenomenology it says, "1. the science of dealing with phenomena as distinct from the science of being (ontology). 2. the branch of science that classifies and describes phenomena without any attempt at explanation. So Robert, are you sure that you found a definition of phenomenology that says, "the study of the development of human consciousness and self-awareness as a preface to philosophy or a part of philosophy?" That's not what I mean when I use the term phenomenology. Regards, Jay R. Feierman