Meaning, lived experience, empathy and boredom: Max van Manen on phenomenology and Heidegger.
John Paley
Nursing Philosophy April 11, 2018 DOI: 10.1111/nup.12211 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Commentary Qualitative Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Humans Boredom Empathy Life change events Qualitative research Metaphysics Philosophy, nursing Meaning Subjectivity Lived experience Heidegger Van manen |
| Key points | Argues that Max van Manen's critical review of the book 'Phenomenology as Qualitative Research' systematically misrepresents it because two 'idées fixes' prevent van Manen from distinguishing qualitative research called 'phenomenology' from the philosophical tradition, and lead him to misread an earlier article by the author and three works by Heidegger. The author examines van Manen's claims about meaning, lived experience, empathy, and Heidegger's analysis of boredom. |
Abstract
Phenomenology as Qualitative Research: A Critical Analysis of Meaning Attribution has attracted the attention of Max van Manen, who has published a highly critical review article. Anyone reading this article, but unfamiliar with the book, will get a distorted view of what it is about, whom it is addressed to, what it tries to achieve, and how it goes about presenting its arguments. Not mildly distorted, in need of the odd correction here and there, but systematically misrepresented. One problem is that van Manen appears to have an idée fixe which prevents him from recognizing that the book is not about a certain philosophical tradition (known as "phenomenology"), but about a particular type of qualitative research (also known, unfortunately and confusingly, as "phenomenology"). A second idée fixe disposes him to misread an earlier article of mine and (much more seriously) three works by Heidegger. My aim in this article is to describe these two idées fixes, and exhibit their consequences. In doing so, I will examine what van Manen has to say on four crucial topics: meaning, lived experience, empathy, and Heidegger's analysis of boredom in The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics.