How did the phenomenological reduction change the focus from objects to consciousness?

The phenomenological reduction, a foundational method developed by Edmund Husserl, shifts the focus of inquiry from the external world of objects to the internal realm of consciousness by employing a technique known as bracketing (or epoché).12

In the "natural attitude," individuals typically focus on the existence of objects in the world. The phenomenological reduction does not require the philosopher to doubt the existence of these objects; rather, it mandates a "suspension of judgment" regarding their factual reality. By placing the existence of the world in brackets, the philosopher "turns" or "reflects" their direction of sight away from the objects themselves and toward the manner in which knowledge of those objects is constituted within consciousness.12

Through this process, everything given to the mind is transformed into a phenomenon—that which is known in and by consciousness. This allows the investigator to analyze the essential structures of conscious acts (such as perception, imagination, and judgment) and understand how meaning is founded and created, rather than merely assuming the independent existence of the objects being perceived.134