The first two statements are directly about bracketing...the third is a more an inference about it...the fourth is my own take on what it's about and what I'm asking for.
1. Current phenomenological techniques in sociology include the method of "bracketing" (Bentz 1995; Ihde 1977). This approach lifts an item under investigation from its meaning context in the common-sense world, with all judgments suspended. For example, the item "alcoholism as a disease" (Peele 1985; Truan 1993) is not evaluated within phenomenological brackets as being either true or false. Rather, a reduction is performed in which the item is assessed in terms of how it operates in consciousness: What does the disease notion do for those who define themselves within its domain? A phenomenological reduction both plummets to the essentials of the notion and ascertains its meanings independent of all particular occasions of its use. The reduction of a bracketed phenomenon is thus a technique to gain theoretical insight into the meaning of elements of consciousness.
PHENOMENOLOGY by Myron Orleans in the Encyclopedia of Sociology (http://hss.fullerton.edu/sociology/orleans/phenomenology.htm)
2. On the other hand, we must also be on guard against including things in our descriptions that don't belong there. This is the function of bracketing: We must put aside all biases we may have about the phenomenon. When you have a prejudice against a person, you will see what you expect, rather than what is there. The same applies to phenomena in general: You must approach them without theories, hypotheses, metaphysical assumptions, religious beliefs, or even common sense conceptions. Ultimately, bracketing means suspending judgement about the "true nature" or "ultimate reality" of the experience -- even whether or not it exists!
Dr. C. George Boeree...from Phenomenological Existentialism
3. The sociologist tries to see what is there. He may have hopes or fears concerning what he may find. But he will try to see regardless of his hopes or fears. It is thus an act of pure perception, as pure as humanly limited means allow, toward which sociology strives.
Peter L. Berger...from Invitation to Sociology, p. 5
4. This idea is far easier to describe than do. However, it is essential if critical thinking is to take place. As you will see, it is clearly related to the other sociological thinking tools...but probably no more so than to empathy.
As used and applied here, bracketing means to suspend or "hold aside" personal/learned values about a topic, idea, or in simply approaching new realities. As such, it is borrowed from Phenomenology, a branch of Philosophy dealing with knowing and perceiving. This branch has been utilized by various social thinkers and has provided keen insights into the realities of our social lives. Bracketing, in particular, is instructive to critical analysis because it calls for us to diminish the effect of our current values on how we perceive, see, and judge those realities around us...including ourselves. Think of bracketing as the process of holding aside these values and previous judgments in order to create a path to a clearer view of something. By doing so we are more able to be empathetic...i.e. understand something on its own terms without interference of our own terms.
Bracketing, however, doesn't require us to abandon or even alter our values. It requires us to temporarily suspend them. After investigation has taken place, a "release" of these brackets allows a "mixing" to take place. Presuming that critical analysis provides new or different "data" to assess, the release of the brackets provides the opportunity for a clash of the old and the new...resulting in yet another "new"...a synthesis that may or may not culminate in a change of values or position. However, given that "values" aren't static...but are everchanging if allowed to be (i.e. not prevented by rigid and controlled adherence), change is likely. Integrity comes into play here. The most authentic change is that which happens because it is warranted...and necessary to maintain the integrity of the "knower" (i.e the "self-conscious" knower).
So, I am asking you to consider matters by means of bracketing your existing perspectives. As already said...its easier to say you will than to actually do it. That's the challenge.
David H. Kessel (https://www.angelfire.com/or/sociologyshop/BRACK.html)
