THE INTERPRETED WORLD. AN INTRODUCTION TO PHENOMENOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY (Ch. 7. Phenomenological Research)

The research is concentrated on the translation of the chapter of E. Spinelli's book «The Interpreted World». The issues discussed here interest contemporary researchers and need to be studied profoundly: what is essential in studying human being today in comparison with the classical view of humanities and existential philosophical is absolutely foreign in the view of natural science; which approaches in contemporary psychotherapy can satisfy the most important principles of humanitarian inquiry; whether they assimilate the very idea of phenomenological-existential method in its variations and its language of description etc. properly. The author starts with an observation on differences between scientific approach and phenomenological one. It is the latter which could be more appropriate for psychologists, due to its concentrating on uniqueness, singularity and changing nature of human reality. This paper studies such criteria as trustworthiness, credibility, personal experience in the works of many contemporary researchers. What is more, phenomenological method reconsiders the notions of objectivity and causality, demonstrating another orientation for researcher. Namely, one of its significant achievements consist in assurance of fundamentally inter-relational (inter-subjective), or dialogical character of psychic reality, which is the corner stone of therapeutic practice. Another important principle of phenomenologically-oriented study suggests the accomplishment of unbiased vision, which approximates us to the very nature of the phenomenon of the other's reality. Addressing several experimental studies, Spinelli phenomenological technology, its fitness and adequacy in psychotherapeutic practice.