phenomenon

1. An occurrence, circumstance, or fact that is perceptible by the senses.
2. pl. -nons.
   1. An unusual, significant, or unaccountable fact or occurrence; a marvel.
   2. A remarkable or outstanding person; a paragon. See synonyms at wonder.
3. Philosophy. In the philosophy of Kant, an object as it is perceived by the senses, as opposed to a noumenon.
4. Physics. An observable event.

[Late Latin phaenomenon, from Greek phainomenon, from neuter present participle of phainesthai, to appear.]

USAGE NOTE   Phenomenon is the only singular form of this noun; phenomena is the usual plural. Phenomenons may also be used as the plural in nonscientific writing when the meaning is “extraordinary things, occurrences, or persons”: They were phenomenons in the history of music.

noun

1. Something having real, demonstrable existence: actuality, event, fact, reality. See real/imaginary.
2. One that evokes great surprise and admiration: astonishment, marvel, miracle, prodigy, sensation, stunner, wonder, wonderment. Idioms: one for the books, the eighth wonder of the world. See good/bad.

Definition: rare occurrence; wonder
Antonyms: normality, regularity

Something that is shown, or revealed, or manifest in experience. In Kantian metaphysics the phenomena are objects and events as they appear in our experience, as opposed to objects and events as they are in themselves (noumena). It is central to Kant's thought that the former are shaped by the nature of our cognitive faculties: it is because of us that things appear extended in space and time and causally connected. More generally, the phenomenal aspects of things are the aspects that show themselves, rather than the theoretical aspects that are inferred or posited in order to account for them. To ‘save the phenomena’ is to theorize in a way that does justice to the phenomenal aspects of a subject-matter: philosophers frequently charge each other with giving over-simple theories of things, that ride roughshod over one or another aspect of the phenomena. See also phenomenology.

Anything capable of being perceived by human senses.

Pl. phenomena [Gr.] any observable occurrence or fact of which the cause is not immediately evident. In veterinary science usually relates to laboratory findings but can relate to clinical signs. Typical examples are berry–dedrick phenomenon, camp phenomenon, koch phenomenon, rickettsial interference phenomenon, satellitism, swarming (1).

For other uses, see Phenomena (disambiguation).

The combustion of a match is an observable occurrence, or event, and therefore a phenomenon.

A phenomenon (from Greek φαινόμενoν, pl. φαινόμενα - phenomena) is any observable occurrence.^[1] In popular usage, a phenomenon often refers to an extraordinary event. In scientific usage, a phenomenon is any event that is observable, however commonplace it might be, even if it requires the use of instrumentation to observe it. For example, In physics, a phenomenon may be a feature of matter, energy, or spacetime, such as Isaac Newton's observations of the moon's orbit and of gravity, or Galileo Galilei's observations of the motion of a pendulum.^[2]

Contents 1 Use in gemology 2 Use in philosophy 3 See also 4 References

Use in gemology

In gemology a phenomenon is an unusual optical effect displayed by a gem. Play-of-color, labradorescence, iridescence, adularescence, chatoyancy, asterism, aventurescence, schiller and color change are all phenomena of this type.

Use in philosophy

A comparison between the combustion of a match on Earth (left) and in a microgravity environment, such as that found on the ISS (right).
The same phenomenon is observed as appearing differently.

In philosophy, the use of the word phenomenon differs from other uses in that it refers to perceived events. Phenomena may be perceived through a person's senses or with their mind.

The term came into its modern philosophical usage through Immanuel Kant, who contrasted it with noumenon (for which he used the term "Ding an sich", or "thing-in-itself") or Absolute. Kant was heavily influenced by Leibniz in this part of his philosophy. Phenomenon and noumenon serve as interrelated technical terms in Kant's philosophy. Noumena, in contrast to phenomena, are not directly accessible to observation.
Nowadays, "phenomena" are often, but not always, understood as 'appearances'. These are themselves sometimes understood as involving qualia.

See also

• Epiphenomenon
• Noema
• Observation
• Optical phenomenon
• Phenomenology
• Physical system
• Physicalism

References

1. ^ New Oxford American Dictionary (2nd ed.)
2. ^ Jeremy Bernstein, A Theory for Everything, Copernicus, An imprint of Springer-Verlag, New York, 1996, hardback, ISBN 0-387-94700-0

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Common misspelling(s) of phenomenon

• phenomonenon

Dansk (Danish)
n. - fænomen

Nederlands (Dutch)
fenomeen

Français (French)
n. - phénomène

Deutsch (German)
n. - Phänomen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - φαινόμενο, (καθομ.) (για ανθρώπους) φαινόμενο, τέρας

Italiano (Italian)
fenomeno

Português (Portuguese)
n. - fenômeno (m)

Русский (Russian)
феномен, явление

Español (Spanish)
n. - fenómeno

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - fenomen (sing.)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
现象, 非凡的人, 稀有的事, 奇迹

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 現象, 非凡的人, 稀有的事, 奇跡

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 현상, 사건, 비범한 인물

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 現象, 驚くべきこと

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) ظاهرة‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮תופעה, דבר לא רגיל, גאון, פנומן, דבר הנתפס ע"י החושים או השכל‬

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