A Critical Study of Phenomenology- with Special Refrence to Modern Developments in Psychology

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Tunu Bhattacharyya, born on 21st day of January, 1940, was a resident of the twin town of Hooghly-Chinsurah in the district of Hooghly.

After passing School Final Examination from Binodini Girls' High School, Hooghly- She had taken her higher studies from Hooghly Women's College. She secured first place in second class in both B.A. (Honours) and M.A. Examinations in Philosophy from the Burdwan University in the years of 1962 and 1964 respectively. None could be placed in first class by the University authorities in those years.

She was called first, as occasion offered, by her Alma Mater viz. Hooghly Women's College to join as a lecturer on her subject in leave vacancy. During that time, she was provided with a scholarship for three years by the Burdwan University in the year of 1967.

Meanwhile she joined as a lecturer for a permanent post in the Department of Philosophy of same college viz. Hooghly Women's College, Hooghly on the first day of September, 1969 where she undertook her studies. She retired as Reader from her continuous service on the 31st day of January 2000.

Shortly after her retirement she was laid down by protracted illness with an incurable disease diagnosed as Osteoporosis which took away her working life on the 20th September, 2020.

In this manuscript I have made an attempt to examine critically the value and relevance of phenomenology for psychology. I have not entered into a discussion of the phenomenological philosophies of Husserl and his followers in detail, because my main interest has been to study their methods and only those concepts of phenomenology, like the concept of intentionality, which are relevant for psychology.

While Husserl laid down the basic conception and methodology of a phenomenological psychology, for actual working out of such a psychology we have to turn to Scheler, Sartre, Gurwitsch and Merleau-Ponty. Accordingly, I have devoted special attention to their contribution to psychology.

As I have said in the concluding chapter, I consider the phenomenological approach to psychology very promising, but only if it is supplemented by experimental and empirical investigations. While I recognise the value of the contributions. of the phenomenologists to psychology, I do not think that the phenomenological method is the only method to be adopted in psychology.

I must express my gratitude to all those who have helped me in this work. But I must specially mention the name of Dr. Jitendra Nath Mohanty, Acharya B. N. Seal, Professor of Mental & Moral Science, University of Calcutta for his valuable guidance.