'Ideals of Critique: Lessons from Critical Phenomenology'

“Phenomenology,” classically understood, names the philosophical practice of describing experience and the world as experienced from the first-person perspective. In the early 20th - Century, phenomenologists primarily addressed issues in psychology, epistemology (knowledge), and metaphysics (reality). Yet, more recently, they are applying phenomenology beyond its traditional boundaries, to the critical study of social injustice, calling this “critical phenomenology.” This, however, provokes questions of what exactly critical phenomenology is—what are its relations to “classical” phenomenology and how is it beneficial to socio-political critique? I address these questions directly by defending a systematic conception of the aspirational ideals that must structure critical phenomenological practice, if it is to be both appropriately “critical” and “phenomenological.”

Kidd is associate professor of philosophy at the City College of New York (CUNY), where he has taught since 2015. His interests range widely over the history of philosophy, philosophy of mind, phenomenology, and epistemology. But his current focus is on critical phenomenology and the ways that various critical and phenomenological methodologies can be used to enrich phenomenological research, inform struggles for social justice, and address certain perennial issues in epistemology, especially those arising out of the tradition of philosophical skepticism.

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