In my reading group, we discussed about The Phenomenological tradition today. Phenomenology is considered to be the experience of a phenomena and how this is interpreted. Some of the authors who contributed to this tradition are Edmund Husserl, Martin Buber…
The discussion in the group was about abstract stuff, as usual. During the discussion, it seems we enter in our own bubble using those new words and concepts which we just came across in the literature. Sometimes it gets difficult to follow, and adding up that English is not our mother tongue… well, let’s say it gets ironic to discuss about communication in this setting.
However, today I wanted to write about how we all relate some concepts to
examples when reading the text in order to understand it better. One of the readings talked about the understanding you create about someone through experiencing them (I-Thou), and how this may differ from the understanding which a person has about themselves. I personally related this part of the text to when old friends tell you “truths” about yourself that you might not recognise at the first sight. Because you trust them, then you may realise that your friends can know even the unconscious ways of being you may have, and that these are clearly visible to them and not to you. I’ve experience this many times, and I treasure those moments and the questions they bring… Of course, I am not sure if this is the right example for everyone, or if it is the correct way of understanding it, but we will have the opportunity to ask for clarification during the seminar tomorrow morning.