Epoché and Objectivity in Phenomenological Meaning-Making in Educational Research

Abstract

Epoché within phenomenology sets aside or suspends assumptions and resistance to prejudices that rest on the principal that humans bring schemas and frameworks into being. This stance of analysis and multi-layered process reveals phenomenologically lived experiences and ‘being in the world’ that as essences shape forms of reflective thought and understanding on phenomena. In this chapter, the notion of epoché, or bracketing as an essential attitude to phenomenological reasoning, is surveyed through leading thinkers spanning the field of phenomenology. Epoché as an essential attitude to transcendental, hermeneutic and existential phenomenological reasoning, and argumentation between essence and existence, as well as more recent ‘bridling’ and ‘sidling’ approaches are considered. This chapter informs researchers, especially those recent to phenomenological investigation, of the implications of such theories and techniques, their evolution in the minds of developing researcher minds, and the complexity and delicacy with which all researchers are compelled to approach this fascinating aspect of qualitative understanding and meaning making.