Fundamental Issues of Classical Phenomenology: An Approach to its Method and Possible Applications

Abstract

Phenomenology is a philosophical perspective first established at the beginning of the twentieth century and
remains being developed. It was shaped during the first quarter of that century, diversified during the second
one, and took multiple roads since the 1950s. As a result, it is not possible to talk of ‘the one’ phenomenology, but instead it is necessary to speak of a phenomenological ‘project’. The article presents an approach to the issues, method, and possible applications of phenomenological philosophy. First, it addresses the meaning of the general
phenomenological project and that of the project of three of its classical representatives: Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Secondly, it introduces some of the key concepts of these philosophers, highlighting the continuities and breaks. Finally, it suggests a concrete example of a possible application of the phenomenological approach and method through our contemporary experience of corporeal distance.