Philosophers often use the word “phenomena” to refer to appearances. Here is some text quoted from Wikipedia:
In modern philosophical use, the term ‘phenomena’ has come to mean what is experienced as given. In Immanuel Kant’s Inaugural Dissertation, On the Form and Principles of the Sensible and Intelligible World (1770), Kant theorizes that the human mind is restricted to the logical world and thus can only interpret and understand occurrences according to their physical appearances. He wrote that humans could infer only as much as their senses allowed, but not experience the actual object itself. Thus, the term phenomenon refers to any incident deserving of inquiry and investigation, especially events that are particularly unusual or of distinctive importance. According to The Columbia Encyclopedia, “Modern philosophers have used ‘phenomenon’ to designate what is apprehended before judgment is applied.”
Kant’s point of view appears to have been that our investigation of the world begins with appearances, or phenomena. What Kant saw as noumena, or the world in itself, was not accessible to us. We would have to make do with phenomena.
The Heretical Philosopher 