The epoché discards received ideas to describe things as they present themselves.

Evidence

Flaubert was talking about literary skill, but he could have been talking about phenomenological method, which follows exactly that process. With the epoché, one first discards second-hand notions or received ideas, then one describes the thing as it directly presents itself. For Husserl, this ability to describe a phenomenon without influence from others’ theories is what liberates the philosopher. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 343

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clearly defines the epoché as stripping away second-hand notions to describe phenomena directly — exactly the orientation the reader wants.
• CANDY: A neat bridge claim: Flaubert’s literary advice to ‘remain before the fire until it no longer resembles any other’ is essentially the epoché.
• XREF: connects to: The epoché brackets reality to focus on lived experience itself — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 146; Epoché brackets speculative theorising to expose immediate experience — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 142

Broader Connections

• The epoché brackets reality to focus on lived experience itself #expands (0.95) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 146
• Epoché brackets speculative theorising to expose immediate experience #corroborates (0.92) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 142