Micro-Phenomenology

Micro-phenomenological interview training

What is micro-phenomenology?
Micro-phenomenology is a new scientific discipline that enables us to explore our lived experience very finely: what's happening when an idea comes to us? When suddenly a childhood memory comes back? When we feel sad, or on the contrary elated? When we listen to a piece of music, or taste a good wine? When we read a novel, or write a letter? These phenomena, which constitute the very texture of our existence, are difficult to describe, and have thus far been excluded from scientific investigation.

But recent research shows that we can learn to describe our experience very accurately and reliably, and discover its ordinarily inaccessible dimensions, through appropriate methods.

The development of this "psychological microscope" opens vast fields of investigation in the clinical and therapeutic, educational, technological, artistic and contemplative domains.

​Micro-phenomenology was born out of the idea, advocated by the neurobiologist Francisco Varela in the context of his "neurophenomenological" program, that to understand the functioning of the mind, science cannot rely solely on the study of cerebral activity, but has to create a rigorous method to study human experience.

At his instigation, the "entretien d'explicitation", an interview method initially developed by Pierre Vermersch for pedagogical purposes and for  analyzing professional practice, was adapted to research in cognitive sciences and supplemented by a method of analysis and validation of data, to become micro-phenomenology.

Objective of the training

For the purpose of a research project, the course is aimed at mastering the micro-phenomenological interview, a method enabling the researcher to collect fine-grained descriptions of the lived experience associated with a given sensorial, emotional or cognitive process, or with a specific expertise, in order to gather a corpus of accurate data that are relevant for the research objective.

Dates and Time

April 5 - 9, 2020
9-6 daily

Lunch, coffee breaks and all materials are included.