Back to the Things Themselves! (BTTTT!) is an annual attempt to put aside the more conventional scholarly practice of textual exegesis and critique, and return to the lived world to divine the essential structures of experience through careful phenomenological description.

In short, BTTTT!‘s main aim is to “do phenomenology”—that is, to generate original descriptions of phenomena in the lifeworld. 

BTTTT! is part of the Society for Existential and Phenomenological Theory and Culture (EPTC), which will meet next year at the University of Victoria between June 1-4, 2026. Current call for papers →