Phenomenological Inquiry in Psychology: Existential and Transpersonal Dimensions

This fine new book, the third in a series, brings psychologists up to date on the advances of phenomenological research methods in illuminating the nature of human awareness and ex­ periences. In the more congenial and welcoming intellectual climate of the 1990s, phe­ nomenological methods have moved to the forefront of discourse on research methods that support and advocate an expanding view of science. In Valle and King (1978), phenome­ nological methods were presented as alternatives to behavioral methods. In Valle and Halling (1989), phenomenological methods were advanced to perspectives in psychology. This new volume is even less cautious, indeed bolder, in relation to conventional methods and epistemologies. By now, people knowledgeable about psychology, and most psycholo­ gists, have digested the criticisms directed against methods that operationalize, quantify, and often minimize human behavior. In bringing us up to date on the growing power of phe­ nomenological methods, this volume brings welcome coherence and integrity to an in­ creasingly harried science attempting to reenchant itself with meaning and depth, an endeavor artfully exemplified by phenomenological inquiries of the last several decades.