Maurice Merleau-Ponty Overview

For Merleau-Ponty, we are never separate from the world. On the contrary, we are part of the world. In fact, we can only partake of the world, only know the world, precisely because we are made of the same stuff as... [more]

For Merleau-Ponty, we are never separate from the world. On the contrary, we are part of the world. In fact, we can only partake of the world, only know the world, precisely because we are made of the same stuff as the world. In his own words, we are part of the 'flesh.' In his great essay, "Chiasm: The Intertwining," he argues that we see the world and we are seen by the world; one cannot separate the one from the other. We see because, and on account of the fact that, we can be seen. Vision, then, is a chiasmatic event in which viewer and viewed become intertwined, marbled. The viewer, in some sense, lends his body to the sensual world—and vice versa. This inaugurates a radical reworking of the subject-object dichotomy. For Merleau-Ponty, we exist in this chiasmatic state, this place in-between, this sensual, palpable place of becoming with the world. See Husserl and Bergson for his intellectual compatriots. [show less]