The Meaning of Essences

As long as there has been phenomenological empirical research, the relationship to the philosophical foundation has been a matter of dispute. One such example we find in a recent publication, where Byrne accuses us of misreading Husserl and his idea of essences. We hold that our reading of Husserl is accurate. We agree that phenomenological research is not simply about practicing phenomenological philosophical concepts, and we also argue how important it is to translate and interpret the philosophical ideas to inform empirical research. We also believe that this is what we do when we emphasize how important it is to appraise demands from the scientific community. In our response, we explain our approach to phenomenological research, with an emphasis on how to work with meaning analysis, including essential as well as individual meanings.