State of Phenomenology 2025

State of Phenomenology 2025

As we begin 2026, it’s a perfect time to reflect on the past year and see how our understanding of the world is evolving. One of the most exciting—and perhaps surprising—fields making waves is phenomenology. Traditionally a dense branch of philosophy, phenomenology, the study of lived, subjective experience, has broken out of the ivory tower. In 2025, it became an indispensable tool for understanding our increasingly complex relationship with technology, consciousness, and artificial intelligence. Let’s explore the state of phenomenology and why it matters more than ever.

Designing for Experience: Phenomenology in HCI

For decades, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) focused on efficiency and usability. Is the interface easy to use? Can users complete tasks quickly? But as technology weaves itself into the fabric of our lives, these questions are no longer enough. We don’t just use our devices; we live with them.

This is where phenomenology stepped in during 2025. Researchers are now applying concepts from philosophers like Martin Heidegger to design. Heidegger’s idea of “ready-to-hand” describes how a tool becomes an extension of ourselves when we use it skillfully—we don’t think about the hammer, just the nail. When the tool breaks or is poorly designed, it becomes “present-at-hand,” an object of frustrating focus. The goal of phenomenological HCI is to create technology that feels “ready-to-hand”—intuitive, seamless, and integrated into our flow.

This shift was a major topic at conferences like INTERACT 2025, which hosted a dedicated workshop on “Phenomenological Concepts and Methods for HCI Research.” The focus is no longer just on what users do, but on their holistic, embodied experience. This approach is crucial for designing everything from virtual reality environments that feel natural to empathetic AI agents that interact with us in a more human way.

Mapping the Mind: Consciousness Studies Gets Mathematical

The “hard problem” of consciousness—why and how do we have subjective experiences?—remains one of science’s greatest mysteries. In 2025, the field saw a major push to make the study of experience more rigorous and testable. The star of this movement is computational phenomenology.

This emerging discipline aims to bridge first-person experience with empirical data by creating mathematical models of consciousness. Researchers are using frameworks like Active Inference (AIF) to formalize what it’s like to have an experience, from basic perception to advanced meditative states. For instance, work from institutions like the Monash Centre for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies explored how computational models can explain the attentional shifts and enhanced well-being reported by long-term meditators.

Events like “The Science of Consciousness” conference in Barcelona brought together neuroscientists, philosophers, and AI researchers to debate these new methods. The goal is to move beyond simply finding neural correlates and toward developing falsifiable theories about the very structure of our inner world.

The Ghost in the Machine: AI, Cognition, and Lived Meaning

Can an AI be conscious? This question dominated discussions at the intersection of AI and cognitive science in 2025. While large language models produce stunningly human-like text, phenomenology provides a powerful argument for why they lack genuine understanding.

Philosophers point to the “symbol grounding problem.” An AI manipulates symbols based on statistical patterns in data, but it doesn’t ground those symbols in lived, sensory experience. It can process the word “red,” but it doesn’t know what it’s like to see the color red. This echoes John Searle’s famous Chinese Room argument: manipulating symbols isn’t the same as understanding.

In response, a new concept of “Conscious Intelligence” (CI) is being contrasted with AI. CI is embodied, has intrinsic goals, and creates meaning through interaction with the world. This aligns with related fields like enactivism and embodied cognition, which argue that intelligence isn’t an abstract computation in the brain but an active process involving the whole body and its environment. The future of AI may lie not in building bigger neural networks, but in creating systems that can learn and make sense of the world through physical, embodied interaction.

Conclusion: The Enduring Importance of Experience

In 2025, phenomenology proved it is far more than an archaic philosophical pursuit. It has become a vital, interdisciplinary tool for navigating our modern world. By forcing us to focus on the nature and quality of experience, it provides a human-centered compass for technological design, a rigorous framework for studying the mind, and a crucial reality check on the hype surrounding artificial intelligence. As we continue to build a world where the lines between human, machine, and environment blur, the study of lived experience will only become more essential.

References

1. da Silva Junior, J. A., et al. (2025). Phenomenological Concepts and Methods for HCI Research. INTERACT 2025. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-032-05008-3_73
2. Interaction Design Foundation. (n.d.). Phenomenology. The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction, 2nd Ed. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/phenomenology
3. Michel, M., et al. (2025). Consciousness science: where are we, where are we going, and what if we get there? Frontiers in Science. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/science/articles/10.3389/fsci.2025.1546279/full
4. Prentner, R. (2025). Mathematized phenomenology—A new path to exploring the science of consciousness. ShanghaiTech University. https://www.shanghaitech.edu.cn/eng/2025/0314/c1260a1108202/page.htm
5. Tal, A., et al. (2025). Active Inference, Computational Phenomenology, and Advanced Meditation. Preprint. https://meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/files/Tal_25_OSF.pdf
6. My Life Reflections. (2025). How Conscious Intelligence Challenges AI’s Computational Paradigm. https://www.mylifereflections.net/2025/11/how-conscious-intelligence-challenges-ai.html
7. My Life Reflections. (2025). Consciousness and Artificial Intelligence: Can Machines Truly Think? https://www.mylifereflections.net/2025/10/consciousness-and-artificial.html
8. Peeters, A., et al. (2023). Embodied AI: A Decade in Review. Frontiers in Neurorobotics. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurorobotics/articles/10.3389/fnbot.2023.1301993/full