All Topics  
Phenomenon

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Phenomenon
 
 
  Topics Phenomenon Topic Home

A phenomenon (from Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 fa???µe?o?, pl. fa???µe?a - phenomena) is any observable
Observation

Observation is either an activity of a living being , consisting of receiving knowledge of the outside world through the senses, or the recording of data using scientific instruments....
 occurrence. In popular usage, a phenomenon often refers to an extraordinary event. In physics
Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
, a phenomenon may be a feature of matter
Matter

In common usage, matter is anything that has both mass and volume . A more rigorous definition is used in science: matter is what atoms and molecules are made of....
, energy
Energy

In physics, energy is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of Work_ that can be performed by a force. Energy is an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law....
, or spacetime
Spacetime

In physics, spacetime is any mathematical model that combines space and Time in physics into a single continuum . Spacetime is usually interpreted with space being Three-dimensional space and time playing the role of a fourth dimension that is of a different sort than the spatial dimensions....
. For example, Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton, Fellow of the Royal Society was an English people physicist, mathematician, Astronomy, Natural philosophy, Alchemy, and Theology and one of the the 100 in human history....
 made observations of the phenomenon of the moon
Moon

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the List of natural satellites by diameter satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is km, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth....
's orbit.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Phenomenon'
Start a new discussion about 'Phenomenon'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Streichholz
A phenomenon (from Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 fa???µe?o?, pl. fa???µe?a - phenomena) is any observable
Observation

Observation is either an activity of a living being , consisting of receiving knowledge of the outside world through the senses, or the recording of data using scientific instruments....
 occurrence. In popular usage, a phenomenon often refers to an extraordinary event. In physics
Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
, a phenomenon may be a feature of matter
Matter

In common usage, matter is anything that has both mass and volume . A more rigorous definition is used in science: matter is what atoms and molecules are made of....
, energy
Energy

In physics, energy is a scalar physical quantity that describes the amount of Work_ that can be performed by a force. Energy is an attribute of objects and systems that is subject to a conservation law....
, or spacetime
Spacetime

In physics, spacetime is any mathematical model that combines space and Time in physics into a single continuum . Spacetime is usually interpreted with space being Three-dimensional space and time playing the role of a fourth dimension that is of a different sort than the spatial dimensions....
. For example, Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton, Fellow of the Royal Society was an English people physicist, mathematician, Astronomy, Natural philosophy, Alchemy, and Theology and one of the the 100 in human history....
 made observations of the phenomenon of the moon
Moon

The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite and the List of natural satellites by diameter satellite in the Solar System. The average centre-to-centre distance from the Earth to the Moon is km, about thirty times the diameter of the Earth....
's orbit. Additionally, Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei was a Grand Duchy of Tuscany physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution....
 made observations of pendulum related phenomena.

Use in gemmology

In gemmology a phenomenon is an unusual optical effect displayed by a gem. Play-of-color, labradorescence
Labradorite

Labradorite , a feldspar mineral, is an intermediate to calcic member of the plagioclase series. It is usually defined as having "%An" between 50 and 70....
, iridescence
Iridescence

Iridescence is an optical phenomenon in which hue changes with the angle from which a surface is viewed. Iridescence may be easily seen in soap bubbles and butterfly wings....
, adularescence
Moonstone

Moonstone may refer to:* Moonstone , a type of gemstone* Mount St. Louis Moonstone - a ski hill, formerly Moonstone, now part of Mount St. Louis...
, chatoyancy
Chatoyancy

In gemology, chatoyancy , or chatoyance, is an optics reflectance effect seen in certain gemstones. Coined from the French "oeil de chat", meaning "cat's eye", chatoyancy arises either from the fibrous structure of a material, as in Tiger's-eye quartz, or from fibrous inclusions or cavities within the stone, as in cat's eye chrysobery...
, asterism
Asterism

Asterism may refer to:* Asterism , a pattern of stars* Asterism , an optical phenomenon in gemstones* Asterism , a moderately rare typographical symbol denoting a break in passages...
, aventurescence
Aventurine

Aventurine is a form of quartz, characterised by its translucency and the presence of platy mineral inclusion s that give a shimmering or glistening effect termed aventurescence....
, schiller and color
Color

Color or colour is the visual perception property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, yellow, blue and others....
 change are all phenomena of this type.

Use in philosophy

In philosophy
Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
, the use of the word phenomenon differs from other uses in that it refers to perceived events. Phenomena may be perceived through a person's senses or with their mind
Mind

Mind refers to the aspects of intellect and consciousness manifested as combinations of thought, perception, memory, emotion, free will and imagination, including all of the brain's conscious and unconscious cognitive processes....
.

The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant was an 18th-century German Philosophy from the Kingdom of Prussia city of K?nigsberg . He is regarded as one of the most influential thinkers of modern Europe and of the late Age of Enlightenment....
, where it is contrasted with noumenon
Noumenon

The noumenon is a posited object or event as it is in itself, independent of the senses. It classically refers to an object of human inquiry, understanding or cognition....
 (for which Kant used the term "Ding an sich", or "thing-in-itself") or Absolute
Absolute (philosophy)

The Absolute is the concept of an unconditional reality which transcendence limited, conditional, everyday existence. It is often used as an alternate term for "God" or "the Divinity", especially, but by no means exclusively, by those who feel that the term "God" lends itself too easily to anthropomorphic presumptions....
. Kant was heavily influenced by Leibniz
Gottfried Leibniz

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a Germany polymath who wrote primarily in Latin and French language.He occupies an equally grand place in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathematics....
 in this part of his philosophy. Phenomenon and noumenon serve as interrelated technical terms in Kant's philosophy. Noumena, in contrast to phenomena, are not directly accessible to observation. Nowadays, "phenomena" are often, but not always, understood as 'appearances'. These are themselves sometimes understood as involving qualia
Qualia

The plural word 'Qualia' , singular 'quale' , from the Latin for ?what sort? or ?what kind?, is a term of art used in philosophy for sensory occurrences of all kinds....
.

See also

  • Epiphenomenon
    Epiphenomenon

    An epiphenomenon is a secondary phenomenon that occurs alongside or in parallel to a primary phenomenon.* Medicine - In Medicine, an epiphenomenon is a secondary symptom seemingly unrelated to the original disease or disorder....
  • Noema
    Noema

    Noema is Greek for the meaning of something. It is the mental equivalent of a Schema or schematic of something. It is the "representation" of an experience of a meaning based system through its own self-referential process....
  • Observation
    Observation

    Observation is either an activity of a living being , consisting of receiving knowledge of the outside world through the senses, or the recording of data using scientific instruments....
  • Phenomenology
    Phenomenology

    Phenomenology is a philosophical method developed in the early years of the twentieth century by Edmund Husserl and a circle of followers at the universities of G?ttingen and Munich in Germany....
  • Physical system
    Physical system

    In physics the word system has a technical meaning, namely, it is the portion of the physical universe chosen for analysis. Everything outside the system is known as the environment, which in analysis is ignored except for its effects on the system....
  • Physicalism
    Physicalism

    Physicalism is a philosophical position holding that everything which exists is no more extensive than its physical properties; that is, that there are no kinds of things other than physical things....