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1 Kant's use of phenomenon

Phenomenon has a specialized meaning in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant who contrasted the term 'Phenomenon' with ' Noumenon'. Phenomena constitute the world as we experience it, as opposed to the world as it exists independently of our experiences (thing-in-themselves, 'das ding an sich'). Humans cannot, according to Kant, know things-in-themselves, only things as we experience them. Thus philosophy should concern itself with understanding the process of experience itself.

The concept of 'Phenomena' led to a tradition of philosophy known as Phenomenology. Leading figures in this tradition include Hegel, Husserl, Heidegger and Derrida.

Kant's account of phenomena has also been understood as influential in the development of psychodynamic models of Psychology, and of theories concerning the ways in which the brain, mind and external world interact.

2 Phenomenon in the general sense

In general, apart from its specialized use as a term in philosophy, phenomenon stands for any observable event. Phenomena make up the raw data of science. Phenomena are often exploited by technology.

It is possible to list the phenomena which are relevant to almost any field of endeavor, for example, in the case of optics and light one can list observable phenomena under the topic

The possibilities are many, for example:

• Anomalous phenomenon ( parapsychology)
• Biological phenomenonBiological phenomena are commonplace and unusual observations which are the subject matter of the science of biology and are explained by it and shed light on its principles. Birth Death Reproduction Speciation Extinction Mobility Predation Plants Animals ( biologyBiology studies the variety of life clockwise from top-left E. coli tree fern, gazelle, Goliath beetle Biology is the science of life. It is concerned with the characteristics and behaviors of organisms, how species and individuals come into existence, an)
• Chemical phenomenon ( chemistryChemistry is the science of matter and its interactions with energy (see physics, biology). Because of the diversity of matter (which is mostly atomic), Chemists are often engaged in the pursuit of studying how atoms interact to form molecules, and how mo)
• Electrical phenomenon ( electricityElectricity is a property of certain subatomic particles, such as electrons and protons, that gives rise to attractive and repulsive forces between them. It is one of the four fundamental forces of nature, and is a conserved property of matter that can be)
• Geological phenomenon ( geologyGeology (from Greek γ&eta ge "the earth") and λογος logos "word", "reason")) is the science and study of the Earth, its composition, structure, physical properties, history, and the processes that shape it. Geolog)
• Hydrological phenomenonA hydrological phenomenon or hydrologic phenomenon are those observable events which are explained by or illuminate the applied science of hydrology. Hydrological phenomena lakes oceans rivers springs wells artesian or flowing wells. ( hydrology)
• Meteorological phenomenon ( weather)
• Optical phenomenon ( optics)
• Physical phenomenon ( physics)
• Statistical phenomena ( statistics)
• Thermal phenomenon ( thermodynamics)

Some observable events are commonplace, some require delicate manipulation of expensive and sensitive equipment. Some are significant experiments which led to groundbreaking discoveries.

There is a class of phenomena which lie outside generally accepted knowledge which knowledgeable scientists tend to discount. They are collected and discussed under the topic anomalous phenomenon