ABSTRACT

The Phenomenology of the 19th and 20th centuries, which was developed by Edmund Husserl, has scientific characterization. It was offered as a scientific description of phenomena. The path to this science is the transcendental epochal method which seeks to bracket the world, and turn it into an object of inquiry through phenomenological reduction. The end is the simplification of the complex and the fundamental quest for the essence(s) of phenomena. The process involves bracketing the world – here the world is turned into an object as a process in this subjective relationship for its deeper apprehension. Essentially, Phenomenology is a philosophical strand that lays claim to foundationalism. Foundationalist thinkers seek to radically depart from past values in their attempt to escape from bias, prejudice and misjudgment. It is the position of the paper that the ‘foundationalist-tabula rasa’ nuance may not be entirely correct as there is always the influence of the past on the present as a dialectical reality of human history. The work, in another view, did emphasize the mediation factor in religious experience; religious experience in itself is a phenomenon of all times. Human existence, suffused in the reality of this phenomenon, may fare better with a criteriological method for assessing the validity of these widespread experiential accounts. These, put in their proper perspectives would contribute to order, the authenticity of human existence and proper development in spheres of human endeavour.