Epokhé

Epokhé is a Greek term, most famously associated with the philosophical method of phenomenology. It translates roughly to "suspension" or "bracketing." In phenomenology, epokhé involves setting aside one's natural assumptions and beliefs about the existence and nature of the external world to focus solely on the conscious experience itself. It is not about denying the existence of the world, but rather about abstaining from making judgments about it in order to investigate how it appears to consciousness.

The philosopher Edmund Husserl is considered the founder of phenomenology and extensively used the concept of epokhé. He argued that by performing the epokhé, one can arrive at a pure description of consciousness and its phenomena, free from empirical or metaphysical presuppositions. This allows for a direct examination of the essence of experience. Other phenomenologists, such as Martin Heidegger and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, adapted and modified Husserl's concept in their own philosophical systems, often emphasizing the embodied and situated nature of consciousness. The practice of epokhé requires a disciplined and reflective approach, aiming to achieve a more objective understanding of subjective experience.