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Literary notes about phenomenal (AI summary)

In literature, "phenomenal" functions as a bridge between the extraordinary and the ordinary, often marking the threshold where ordinary perception gives way to both philosophical inquiry and striking human achievement. In some philosophical writings, it delineates the realm of appearances—what is seen versus what is inherently true—as in the discussions of reality by Kant and Schopenhauer ([1], [2], [3]). At the same time, the term also highlights exceptional qualities in everyday narrative, describing feats of physical prowess or instances of extraordinary fortune, such as phenomenal luck or speed ([4], [5], [6]). Whether invoked to capture the elusive nature of sensory experience or to celebrate an extraordinary accomplishment, "phenomenal" consistently imbues its referent with a sense of amplified impact and grandeur ([7], [8]).
  1. According to this, warmth and electricity would be the “thing-in-itself,” and the world of animals and plants its phenomenal appearance.
    — from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer
  2. But this is not the case with substance in the phenomenal world, which is not a thing in itself cogitated by the pure category.
    — from The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
  3. Phenomenal existence is idea and nothing more.
    — from The World as Will and Idea (Vol. 1 of 3) by Arthur Schopenhauer
  4. For his great weight, his activity was phenomenal—his leaps like a panther's, his turns as quick.
    — from The Red-Blooded Heroes of the Frontier by Edgar Beecher Bronson
  5. It was only a decade ago, but the recovery has been phenomenal.
    — from Five Years Under the Southern Cross: Experiences and Impressions by Frederic C. (Frederic Chambers) Spurr
  6. Robertson dug his cleats in the spongy turf with a phenomenal burst of speed, rapidly overtook his man, driving him meanwhile towards the sidelines.
    — from The Upward Path: A Reader For Colored Children
  7. By phenomenal luck, DeWitt Clinton's good fortune still continued to attend him.
    — from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson
  8. He is a man of good birth and excellent education, endowed by nature with a phenomenal mathematical faculty.
    — from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

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