FOCUSING: GENDLIN’S EXPERIENTIAL PHENOMENOLOGY AND THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL METHOD IN PSYCHOLOGY

Yıl 2025, Sayı: 2, 302 - 317, 22.10.2025

Aysun Aydın

Öz

Eugene Gendlin is one of the most notable thinkers of the 20th century, known for his original phenomenological approach in both philosophy and psychology, and for the conceptual framework, he offers based on his critiques of traditional philosophy and modern psychology. He defines his approach, which he calls Implicit Philosophy and Experiential Phenomenology, as “a reversal of the usual philosophical order”. He reverses the starting point of the traditional approach by presenting a meaning and language acceptance that emerges in the experiential process of an interactive body, as opposed to the traditional philosophy's acceptance of experience and meaning based on conceptual thinking and linguistic expressions. Gendlin, who claims that all elements of human life, all knowledge about life, meaning, and linguistic-conceptual expressions are implicitly contained in bodily experience, presents a philosophical inquiry focused on bodily experience. On the other hand, Gendlin, who transfers this philosophical inquiry to the field of psychology and presents it as an experiential therapy method, offers a phenomenological therapy method focused on bodily experience and processes, which he calls Focusing. This method, which focuses on the client's bodily experiencing process in therapy and derives values and meaning from the bodily experience lived in here and now, differs from traditional therapy methods that focus on past experiences and consciousness. In this context, this study will investigate and evaluate Gendlin’s phenomenology based on bodily experience and implicit meaning and the methodological relationship he establishes with psychology. His experiential approach offers a unique, worthy of discussion, and significant contribution to both disciplines, particularly in terms of enriching the Turkish language literature.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Eugene Gendlin , focusing , body , experience , psychology , phenomenology

Odaklanma: Gendlin’in Deneyimsel Fenomenolojisi ve Psikolojide Fenomenolojik Yöntem

Öz

Eugene Gendlin, hem felsefe hem de psikoloji disiplinlerinde özgün fenomenolojik yaklaşımı ve geleneksel felsefe ve modern psikolojiye yönelik eleştirileri temelinde sunduğu kavramsal çerçevesi ile 20. Yüzyılın dikkat çeken düşünürlerinden biridir. Gendlin, Örtük Felsefe ve Deneyimsel Fenomenoloji olarak adlandırdığı yaklaşımını “olağan felsefi düzeni tersine çevirmek” şeklinde tanımlar. Düşünür geleneksel felsefenin kavramsal düşünme ve dilsel ifadelerden başlayan deneyim ve anlam kabulüne karşı, etkileşimsel bir bedenin deneyim sürecinden başlayan ve buradan ortaya çıkan bir anlam ve dil kabulü sunarak geleneksel yaklaşımın başlangıç noktasını tersine çevirir. İnsan yaşamının tüm öğelerinin, yaşama dair tüm bilginin, anlamın ve dilsel-kavramsal ifadelerin bedensel deneyimde örtük olarak içerildiğini iddia eden düşünür, bedensel deneyim odaklı bir felsefi soruşturma sunar. Öte yandan, bu felsefi soruşturmasını psikoloji alanına taşıyan ve deneyimsel bir terapi yöntemi olarak sunan Gendlin, Odaklanma adını verdiği bedensel deneyim ve süreç odaklı bir fenomenolojik terapi yöntemi tanımlar. Terapide danışanın bedensel deneyimleme sürecine odaklanan, değerleri ve anlamı şimdi ve burada yaşanan bedensel deneyimden çıkarsayan bu yöntem, geçmiş deneyimlere ve bilince odaklanan geleneksel terapi yöntemlerinden ayrılmaktadır. Bu bağlamda, bu çalışma Gendlin’in bedensel deneyim ve örtük anlam temelindeki fenomenolojisini ve psikoloji disiplini ile kurduğu yöntemsel ilişkiyi araştırıp değerlendirmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Düşünürün deneyimsel yaklaşımı, her iki disiplin için de özgün, tartışılmaya değer ve Türkçe literatüre kazandırılması bakımından önemli bir katkı sunmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Eugene Gendlin , odaklanma , deneyim , beden , psikoloji , fenomenoloji

Kaynakça

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