🎨 Focus on senses 🧠 Only experiences exist

phenomenism

9.9

The view that only things we sense exist and objects do not exist on their own

noun
/fəˈnɒmɪnɪzəm/

Specialized

: fenomenismo

The theory of phenomenism suggests that only our sensory experiences are real, without asserting the existence of an objective reality.

Examples

In phenomenism, the existence of physical objects is dependent on our perception and sensory impressions.
Philosophers often debate phenomenism as it challenges the notion of a reality existing outside of human perception.
Phenomenism, for its part, leaves aside questions of ontology.

Academic text (1993)
For Blondel, this idea of immanent critique as a method rather than a doctrine is the essential contribution of Phenomenism to modern philosophy.

Academic text (1993)
Herein lies the essential contribution of Phenomenism, for that which had an ontological status as a doctrine of immanence now becomes only a method of immanence.

Academic text (1993)

Synonyms

phenomenalism

vsphenomenism

Specialized

9.9

The idea that only what we can sense exists

asserts only sensory experiences truly exist and denies independent physical existence

Antonyms

materialism

Specialized

5 7.4

The belief that only physical things are real and minds come from them

realism

Specialized

3 7.9

The view that objects exist even when nobody sees them

Surface Forms

phenomenism singular

phenomenisms plural

Morphology

phenomenism = phenomenon (transparent) = phenomenon + ism

Direct doctrinal formation from 'phenomenon' + '-ism' meaning a theory about phenomena; the semantic relation is straightforward.

Etymology

Phenomenism comes from phenomenon ('what appears to the senses') and -ism ('a belief'). So as a philosophical idea, phenomenism says only our sensory experiences count as real, which is why it focuses on what appears to us rather than objects beyond our perception.