First level
For level one, specifying the field of investigation, Ihde prescribes three rules of activity:
- Attend to the phenomena of experience as they appear and how they show themselves. Establish
a field of purely present experience (p. 35, 38). - Describe, don’t explain. The focus is on describable experience as it shows itself. Do not atmpt to
give explanations of the phenomena (pp. 34-36). - Equalize all immediate phenomena. This means that one has to think of all phenomena as ”equally
real”. The aim is to avoid believing that some things are more real or more fundamental than other
things. Equalizing phenomena is also called ”horizontalization” or ”horizonalization” (pp. 36-37).
Second level
At level two, one can carry out the investigation of essential features and structures of the experi-
enced object by performing phenomenological variations, that is, applying different ways of focusing
on the object (pp. 39-40).
Third level
For level three, the reflection on the process of experience, Ihde spells out that ”every experiencing
has its reference or direction towards what is experienced, and contrarily every experienced phe-
nomenon refers to or reflects a mode of experiencing to which it is present”
(pp. 42-43, italics in original).
There is a correlation between the two sides of experience, one does not exist without the other
(Husserl 1970:151). Husserl named the two sides of the correlation. That which is experienced is
called noema, and the mode of experience is called noesis. The correlation itself, the ”directedness”
of consciousness, is termed intentionality.
On the basis of a discussion of Husserl’s ideas, Ihde presents the process of experience in schemat-
ic form:
(I)noesis ------ noema
3 --- 2 ------------------ 1
The numbering indicates that the appearance of noema comes first. Subsequently, a reflection on
the process discloses noesis; how noema is experienced. Finally, a further reflection reveals the ”I”
as the bearer of experience.
Ihde illustrates these relationships with a musical example. Listening to a woodwind quintet, the
listener can choose to focus on the oboe, even if some other instruments may be louder and more
prominent. Thus the oboe stands out as a core phenomenon, the noema, and listening for the oboe
is the noetic activity. This process reveals the ”I” , which obtains its significance through its encounter
with the sound of the oboe and its background (pp. 49-51).
The order in the phenomenological analysis is crucial. Primarily something appears, then the reflex-
ive awareness reveals the correlation between what appears and how it appears, and this correlation
constitutes the experiencing who. In other words, the ”who” or the ”I” only shows itself in its involve-
ment with its projects. The ”I” is not located inside the skull. It is constituted again and again in every
conscious experience of the world.