Phenomenological Research Methods: Object-Based

Phenomenology is an approach that seeks to observe the world through human experience. The philosopher Edmund Husserl, who coined the term, saw phenomenology as a learning method through experience. The philosopher Martin Heidegger, who borrowed the concept from Husserl, added the dimension of meaning to experience. According to Heidegger, humans perceive the world through the meanings they assign to it and through language, which shapes our connection to things. Heidegger believed that poetics is phenomenology's means of revealing the world in all its details.

During the course, foundational elements of phenomenological philosophy and poetic research will be taught to provide sensitive research tools for working with objects. Tools to be studied include observation, questioning, diverse methods of information gathering (such as wandering, observation, interviews, and practical experience), and poetic interpretation of the collected information. These tools will be applied reflexively to the object of study and the student's work. This approach allows students to engage in multilayered work with objects, identifying, beyond form and function, the poetic, cultural, linguistic, and personal layers of the relationships between the creator and the object.

Students will apply these research methods practically through personal research. The course theme for the year will be "tools," and students will be asked to choose one tool and engage with it through sequential tasks, documenting their process in a research journal throughout the year. The tasks combine theoretical and practical approaches, allowing for comprehensive research experience. The research tools taught in the course are applicable in any field and serve as tools in their own right for identifying the cultural and personal language within which we exist and operate.