Etymology: Latin physica, plural, natural science, from Greek physika, from neuter plural of physikos of nature, from physis growth, nature, from phyein to bring forth.
That was fun, lets try another word:
1 : the study of the development of human consciousness and self-awareness as a preface to or a part of philosophy
2 a (1) : a philosophical movement that describes the formal structure of the objects of awareness and of awareness itself in abstraction from any claims concerning existence (2) : the typological classification of a class of phenomena
I don't like that definition, it's rather incomplete, but I don't expect anyone at Merriam-Webster to understand Science.
What would Wiki do? What does Wiki say?
It says this:
Phenomenology may refer to:
- Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties
- Phenomenology (archaeology), based upon understanding cultural landscapes from a sensory perspective.
- Phenomenology (particle physics), the part of particle physics that deals with the application of theory to high energy experiments
- Phenomenology (philosophy), a philosophical method and school of philosophy founded by Edmund Husserl (1859 – 1938)
- Phenomenology (psychology), used in psychology to refer to subjective experiences or their study
- Phenomenology (science), used in science to describe a body of knowledge which relates empirical observations of phenomena to each other
- Phenomenology of Perception, the magnum opus of French phenomenological philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty
- Phenomenology of religion, concerning the experiential aspect of religion in terms consistent with the orientation of the worshippers
- The Phenomenology of Spirit by G. W. F. Hegel (1770 – 1831)
- Existential phenomenology in the work of Husserl's student Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976) and his followers
It's also important (currently) regarding the upcoming conference to be held in 3 weeks at Nordita in Sweden, here: