Open research questions in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
373 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 6,232 Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.
What the literature leaves open
The paper identifies a gap in understanding the role of the Immediacy thesis in supporting essential representationalism. It notes that the wide acceptance of essential representationalism is striking given its prima facie entailment of a denial of a cornerstone of the contemporary theory of mental representation.
The study excluded lunar surface measurements and samples lacking data within the visible spectrum, - The model exhibits a performance deficit within the saturated green region, - The smoothing procedure may have reduced noise but also may have affected the results, - The study only used a specific illuminant, - The study only used the CIE 1931 xyY color space and the CIE 1976 u ′ v ′ Y color space
Investigating the reasons for the performance deficit within the saturated green region, - Exploring the use of different color spaces, - Examining the effect of different illuminants on the results, - Investigating the application of the theoretical physical gamut model to other domains
Current theories of meaning do not fully account for the importance of individual autonomy and self-expression. There is a lack of understanding of how discovering pre-set purposes can undermine one's capacity to live a meaningful life. The paper identifies a need for a deeper understanding of the relationship between autonomy and meaning.
Training that treats Existentialism and the Weight of Freedom as a settled body of findings misrepresents its condition; training that treats it as all open questions fails to convey what has been secured.
Condemned to Be Free: A Historical Development Review of Existentialism and the Weight of Freedom · 2026 · DOITraining that treats The Philosophy of Time: A-Theory and B-Theory as a settled body of findings misrepresents its condition; training that treats it as all open questions fails to convey what has been secured.
Does the Past Exist Yet: A Historical Development Review of The Philosophy of Time: A-Theory and B-Theory · 2026 · DOIthe-culture to variables such as emotionality and engagement remains to be ascertained. The cultural significance of the relative importance attributed by the members-of-the-culture to variables such as range of tonal- intensity remains to be ascertained. The cultural significance of the impact of certain topics on interactants' psychological states remains to be investigated. Since the respondents were not available in the Case Study, the perti- nence of the proposed psychological parameters remains to be tested.
Meaning attribution to behavior in face‐to‐face interaction — a hermeneutic‐phenomenological approach · 1987 · DOIIt remains to be seen whether they, too, like rebels such as Winograd, will radically modify their micro-analysis of mental processes so as to be able to engage in a rewarding dialogue with scholars concerned with human meaning at a macro-level and within a hermeneutic-dialectic tradition.
Meaning, Context, and Control:Convergent trends and controversial issues in current Social‐scientific research on Human cognition and communication · 1987 · DOIFuture research could explore the implications of the institution of nature for various fields, including philosophy, biology, and psychology. Future research could also develop the concept of the institution of nature further.
The concept of an institution of nature is not fully developed in Merleau-Ponty's work. There is a need for a framework that integrates evolutionary and phenomenological perspectives.
Future research could further explore the relationship between recognition, know-how, and decision-making. The concept of intentionality and absence could be applied to various fields such as psychology, cognitive science, and philosophy. Further research could investigate the implications of the paper's findings for our understanding of human cognition and action.
The traditional view of recognition as mere identification of an object is incomplete. The relationship between recognition, know-how, and decision-making is not fully understood. The paper identifies a gap in the literature regarding the role of intentionality and absence in shaping human cognition and action.
The paper identifies a gap in the existing literature by proposing a novel reading of Being and Time as a philosophical Bildungsroman. The author argues that this reading complements other hermeneutic approaches and brings Heidegger into dialogue with the German Bildungsroman tradition.
The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of the we and its relation to selfhood and social cognition. The paper argues that existing accounts of collective intentionality have not adequately engaged with questions of selfhood and social cognition.
The gap is the need for a deeper understanding of the complex relationships between the body, technology, and power. The gap is the lack of integration of the perspectives of Ihde and Foucault.
The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of the concept of plasticity in relation to time and its dialectical relationship. The analysis of Malabou's doctoral thesis fills this gap by providing new insights into the status of form without transcendence.
The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of the relationships between person, formation, and values. It highlights the need for a deeper understanding of the concept of person and formation from a phenomenological perspective.
Further research could explore the implications of the paper's findings for educational practices. It could also investigate the relationship between formation, evil, violence, and passivity in different contexts.
La formación frente al mal: violencia y pasividad como límites. Lectura fenomenológica del mal radical, la banalidad del mal y la doble pasividad en la experiencia formativa · 2026 · DOIThe paper identifies a gap in understanding the relationship between formation, evil, violence, and passivity. It highlights the need for a phenomenological approach to this topic.
La formación frente al mal: violencia y pasividad como límites. Lectura fenomenológica del mal radical, la banalidad del mal y la doble pasividad en la experiencia formativa · 2026 · DOIThe paper identifies a gap in the understanding of formation and its relation to passivity and the phenomenological unconscious. It aims to address this gap by examining the relevance of these notions for a theory of formation.
The paper suggests that future research should continue to explore the concept of neuroqueer theory and its relation to animalidad. It recommends further investigation into the potential of queersomatic practices for challenging dominant norms.
The body's ambiguous position in contemporary life is a gap that needs to be addressed. The increasing overshadowing of the body's experience by the digital sphere is a gap that needs to be explored.
Foucault's Aesthetics of Existence and Shusterman's Somaesthetics ed. by Valentina Antoniol and Stefano Marino (review) · 2026 · DOIThe paper identifies a gap in the understanding of the experiences in virtual reality games. The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of the impact of virtual reality games on the gamer's experience.
Future research could explore the implications of Althusser's conceptualization of theoretical practice for understanding knowledge production. It could also examine the relation between theoretical practice and other theoretical frameworks.
The paper identifies a gap in traditional theories of knowledge, which suggest that knowledge is related to a 'thinking consciousness'. It also identifies a gap in understanding theoretical practice as a material production process.
Most-cited papers in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy
- Toward a Psychology of Human Agency · Perspectives on Psychological Science · 2006 · 2,343 citations
- Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person · The Journal of Philosophy · 1971 · 2,031 citations
- Situated Actions and Vocabularies of Motive · American Sociological Review · 1940 · 1,693 citations
- Living well: a self-determination theory perspective on eudaimonia · Journal of Happiness Studies · 2006 · 1,203 citations
- A phenomenological hermeneutical method for researching lived experience · Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences · 2004 · 1,196 citations
- A Phenomenological Research Design Illustrated · International Journal of Qualitative Methods · 2004 · 1,042 citations
- Hermeneutic Phenomenology and Phenomenology: A Comparison of Historical and Methodological Considerations · International Journal of Qualitative Methods · 2003 · 995 citations
- Ontological Politics. A Word and Some Questions · The Sociological Review · 1999 · 972 citations
- Eudaimonia and Its Distinction from Hedonia: Developing a Classification and Terminology for Understanding Conceptual and Operational Definitions · Journal of Happiness Studies · 2013 · 924 citations
- The self-concept revisited: Or a theory of a theory. · American Psychologist · 1973 · 798 citations
Most recent work
- “No Excuses”: Existentialism, the Philosophy of Responsibility, and Leisure · Leisure Sciences · 2026
- Meaning, speaking, writing: Textuality in phenomenological research · Qualitative Research · 2026
- Phantasia et imagination · Eikasía Revista de Filosofía · 2026
- On Being and Knowing: A Response to Thomas Ogden’s “Ontological” Model · The Psychoanalytic Quarterly · 2026
- Intercorporeity qua natural: Merleau-Ponty on the institution of nature · Continental Philosophy Review · 2026
- From hauntology (back) to phenomenology · Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences · 2026
- RECOGNITION OF THE ACTION: INTENTIONALITY, ABSENCE, KNOW-HOW AND DECISION · Revista Gênero e Interdisciplinaridade · 2026
- Husserl: ¿fenomenología de la matemática? · Eidos · 2026
- From Husserl's Mathematics to Dufrenne's Aesthetics: Toward a Formalization of Phenomenological Aesthetics v.2 · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
- Beyond Nothingness - Relational Ontology and Necessary Consciousness · Open MIND · 2026
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