In philosophy, especially phenomenology, the suspension of judgment or temporary setting aside of assumptions to examine something objectively.
From Greek 'epochē' (suspension, cessation). Adopted into philosophical terminology by Edmund Husserl in the early 20th century as a technical term for 'bracketing' reality to study consciousness.
Phenomenologists use 'epoche' like a mental tool—it's the moment you deliberately stop assuming the world is 'real' in the normal way, so you can study how your mind actually experiences it, kind of like a philosophical pause button.
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