The Interpreted World: An Introduction to Phenomenological Psychology

253 Pages·2005·1.23 MB·English

by  Dr Ernesto Spinelli

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the interpreted world
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Praise for the book
‘This fully revised and updated edition of Spinelli’s classic introduction to phenomenology
should be essential reading on all person-centred, existential and humanistic trainings, and
any other counselling or psychotherapy course which aims to help students develop an in-
depth understanding of human lived experience. With a new chapter on phenomenological
research, discussion of contemporary developments in the field, and an integration of Spinelli’s
own contributions to existential-phenomenological theory and practice, this book is sure to
remain a key text for many years to come.’
Mick Cooper, Senior Lecturer in Counselling,
University of Strathclyde; author of Existential Therapies(Sage, 2003).
‘As the foundational world-view of “modernity” lapses into philosophical and practical
incoherence, existential-phenomenological thinking will surely play a key role in informing
the new meta-paradigm that will eventually replace it. From its masterly descriptions of
R.D. Laing’s view of the schizoid split and Rogers’ humanism to its carefully respectful but
incisively critical interrogations of psychoanalytic, cognitive behavioural and humanistic
theory, this book’s rich insight into the lacunae of modern psychological thinking illustrates
the contribution that existential phenomenology can make to founding a coherently mature
Psychology that is both fully human(e) and responsibly “scientific” in the best sense of that
term. More specifically, in his welcome and careful clarification of the distinctions between
humanistic and existential-phenomenological approaches, Spinelli opens up the potential
for a truly formidable “third force” in psychology that takes us beyond the limitations of
cognitive behaviourism and psychoanalysis. At last there is the real prospect of a construc-
tive dialogue between the major schools of psychology, in which, to quote Spinelli, phe-
nomenological psychology can make a “pivotal contribution to increased communication
and substantial rapprochement between all the contemporary systems in psychology”. For
this reason alone, this book could fittingly be compulsory set reading on all undergraduate-
level psychology and post-graduate counselling/psychotherapy courses.
In sum, The Interpreted World is a comprehensive, intelligent and highly readable intro-
duction to this vitally prescient field of thought; and in opening up existential phenomenol-
ogy so ably and engagingly, it makes an important contribution to the momentous
evolutionary developments in human consciousness that the transcendence of “modernity”
will most surely entail. For as Spinelli himself writes, what is under fundamental challenge
here is “the stance of an isolationist self-centred, self-focused way of being and relating that
runs rampant throughout our culture” – and to the transformation of which existential-
phenomenological thinking can make a possibly decisive contribution.’
Richard House, PhD, Magdalen Medical
Practice, Norwich and Steiner Waldorf teacher;
author of Therapy beyond Modernity(Karnac, 2003).
‘This is by far the most monumental, erudite, comprehensive, authoritative case that exis-
tentialism and phenomenology (a) have a rightful place in the academy; (b) are tough-
minded bodies of thought; (c) have rigorous scientific foundations; (d) bequeath a
distinctive school of psychotherapy and counselling; and (e) are just as good as the more
established systems of psychology.’
Alvin R. Mahrer, PhD, University of Ottawa, Canada;
author of The Complete Guide to Experiential Psychotherapy (Bull Publishing, 2003).
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the interpreted world
an introduction to phenomenological psychology
second edition
ernesto spinelli
SAGE Publications
London ●Thousand Oaks ●New Delhi
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© Ernesto Spinelli 2005
First edition published 1989
Reprinted 1992, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003
This second edition published 2005
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or
private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication
may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by
any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the
publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in
accordance with the terms of licences issued by the
Copyright Licensing Agency. Inquiries concerning
reproduction outside those terms should be sent to
the publishers.
SAGE Publications Ltd
1 Oliver’s Yard
55 City Road
London EC1Y1SP
SAGE Publications Inc.
2455 Teller Road
Thousand Oaks, California 91320
SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd
B-42, Panchsheel Enclave
Post Box 4109
New Delhi 110 017
British Library Cataloguing in Publication data
Acatalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
ISBN 1 4129 0304 1
ISBN 1 4129 0305 X (pbk)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2004095886
Typeset by C&M Digitals (P) Ltd., Chennai, India
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Athenaeum Press, Gateshead
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Contents
Preface to the second edition ix
Preface to the first edition xiii
Introduction 1
1 An introduction to phenomenological theory 5
2 The phenomenological method 19
3 The perception of objects 35
4 The perception of others 59
5 The perception of self 75
6 Existential phenomenology 103
7 Phenomenological research 128
8 Existential psychotherapy 143
9 Phenomenological and humanistic psychologies:
similarities and contrasts 176
10 Phenomenology and the major systems in psychology 186
11 Acritical overview of phenomenological psychology 202
References 219
Index 232
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This text is dedicated to
Philip K. Dick
a writer of phenomenological marvels
and to
Maggi Cook
who allowed me access into her world
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Preface to the Second Edition
…and even the noticing beasts are aware
that we don’t feel very securely at home
in thisinterpreted world...
Rainer Maria Rilke, The Duino Elegies,
my emphasis
Most of the authors I know, myself included, don’t tend to re-read their
books once they are published. Occasionally, we might have a sentence or
a paragraph quoted in someone else’s book, or, as is most common in my
case, as part of a trainee’s essay or dissertation. My own most common
reaction to such events is that of surprise.
Sometimes, the surprise is pleasant: ‘Gosh! I didn’t think I could have
ever expressed something as elegantly as that!’ More often, the surprise is
one of despair: ‘How could I have ever written such a clumsy convoluted
sentence?’ and, on occasion, the surprise is, more than anything else,
amazement in that the quote has revealed that this exciting and novel idea
I’d scribbled down in haste last week and around which a whole new text
might be written, was actually all there in something more than rudimen-
tary form in a book I have not looked at in years.
All of which is a rather long-winded way of stating that my shock in
re-reading the whole of the first edition of this book, while containing ele-
ments of each of the three reactions just mentioned, revealed yet another:
‘How could I have been so naïve and arrogant to have assumed that I was
capable of writing such a book?’ I know better now. Still, for better or
worse, if it hadn’t been for that combination of naïvety and arrogance this
book would have never come into existence. And here I go again.
The first edition of The Interpreted World was published almost exactly
15 years to the day that I am sitting down to write this new preface. It had
taken something like 18 months to get it from its original draught to its
final one. It was my first published book as well as the first that I had
written using a word processing programme. I had worked on the book
during what is likely to be my nearest equivalent to that ‘splendid isola-
tion’ with which Sigmund Freud was so enamoured. Just after I had
begun it, I had resigned from a secure, usually enjoyable, combined
Lecturing and Counselling post in an international college so that I could
set out on a rather uncertain road determined to extend my psychothera-
peutic practice both in a private capacity and in the NHS. I was 40 years
old. It was time to get on and know better my chosen profession and those
colleagues who, I supposed, shared interests similar to my own.