A phenomenon (Greek: φαινόμενoν, from the Greek word ‘phainomenon’, from the verb ‘phanein’, to show, shine, appear, to be manifest (or manifest itself)), plural phenomena, is any observable occurrence. Phenomena are often, but not always, understood as 'appearances' or 'experiences'. These are themselves sometimes understood as involving qualia.
The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with the noumenon (for which he used the term Ding an sich, or "thing-in-itself"). In contrast to a phenomenon, a noumenon is not directly accessible to observation. Kant was heavily influenced by Leibniz in this part of his philosophy, in which phenomenon and noumenon serve as interrelated technical terms.
Read more about Phenomenon: Modern Philosophical Usage, Scientific Phenomena, Mechanical Phenomena, Gem Phenomena, Popular Phenomena, Group and Social Phenomena
Famous quotes containing the word phenomenon:
“The teacher must derive not only the capacity, but the desire, to observe natural phenomena. In our system, she must become a passive, much more than an active, influence, and her passivity shall be composed of anxious scientific curiosity and of absolute respect for the phenomenon which she wishes to observe. The teacher must understand and feel her position of observer: the activity must lie in the phenomenon.”
—Maria Montessori (1870–1952)
“Culture relates to objects and is a phenomenon of the world; entertainment relates to people and is a phenomenon of life.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
“If you could choose your parents,... we would rather have a mother who felt a sense of guilt—at any rate who felt responsible, and felt that if things went wrong it was probably her fault—we’d rather have that than a mother who immediately turned to an outside thing to explain everything, and said it was due to the thunderstorm last night or some quite outside phenomenon and didn’t take responsibility for anything.”
—D.W. Winnicott (20th century)