Phenomenology

Phenomenology, founded by Husserl, is the rigorous description of the structures of conscious experience as they present themselves, before theoretical presuppositions intervene. Heidegger radicalised it into an analysis of being-in-the-world. Merleau-Ponty brought the body to its centre. Sartre deployed it to illuminate freedom, bad faith, and the look of the other. It remains the richest tradition for thinking about consciousness, perception, and lived experience.