Thursday Etymology Lesson: phenomenon

Two words for the price of one today!  Phenomenon from the Ancient Greek word phaínō, meaning “I show.”  In Latin phaenomenon, meaning, “appearance, particularly in the sky” and noumenon, from Greek nous, meaning, “I think, I mean, perception, intuition, understanding.” 

In a way phenomenon is the opposite of noumenon, because a phenomenon is a thing that is seen and observed, and a noumenon is a thing that is known (or maybe unknown?) without being seen. 

Confused yet?  In simple terms, noumenon represents a thing outside of the sensory filters we use to perceive the natural world.  Humans tend to provide names and stories about objects in order to accept them as known.  Stories like, this is a table, I sit in a chair, I am separate from you, you are separate from me.  The concept of a noumenal world is necessary if one believes that our understanding of the world is not limited to what we can perceive with our senses.  It may sound floofy, but in a way, science would not exist without this concept.