Book Description
Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1907-1961) is one of the foremost French philosophers of the 20th century.He is widely regarded for his contributions to phenomenology and the effect his work had on French existentialism and literature. His most important work and his most widely read work is Phenomenology of Perception.

In Phenomenology of Perception, Maurice Merleau-Ponty examines the different associationist and intellectualist conceptions of perception. He rejects both of them on the grounds that they establish an overly rigid relation between stimulus and impression, and secondly, because the world is not entirely the work of a constituting subject.The body is not one object among many, he suggests, but rather it is our means of belonging to the world, and facing tasks.He compellingly argues that body is not geometrical, but conveys a spatiality of situation, an orientation toward a possible world.The ``body image'' is fully interrogated, and gesture, speech, and sexuality are presented as modes of expression that accrue meaning in relation to one another

The strength of M. Merleau-Ponty's masterly work lies in his concluding thoughts on Being-for-itself and Being-in-the-World.In elaborating this distinction, Merleau-Ponty's avoids the trappings of solipsistic reasoning, and makes a classic case for the field of Being- in-the-World's and Being-for-itself radical interdependence, an independence which i which is perceived has no absolute basis that is theoretically divorceable from quotidian practices. Yet, he suggests, there is never certainty, even in the inner life.Only retrospectively can calm, serenity of being be illusorily achieved as subjects are constantly in a process of self-constitution. He concludes that we choose our world, and our world chooses us. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Breakthough Phenomenology
"What is phenomenology? It may seem strange that this question has still to be asked half a century after the first works of Husserl" So says Merleau-Ponty in the opening pages of `Phenomenology of Perception,' perhaps the major work of phenomenology after `Being and Time.' Merleau-Ponty sought, rather brilliantly, to redirect attention to the human body as the locus of our being-in-the-world for phenomenological inquiry. Unfortunately, I am convinced that Merleau-Ponty's efforts to turn the results of his phenomenology into an ethics and a politics are less impressive and important than Heidegger's breathtakingly brilliant attempt to use phenomenology as a means to fundamental ontology. Still, one has to admire Merleau-Ponty's command over biology and the natural sciences. His descriptions of visual illusions and phantom limbs are by now established classics of the field. However, many of his examples are needlessly extensive and dense. Less committed readers should turn to the final chapters of the book, where the majority of his philosophy can be found.

As a side note, Routledge has produced an edition here that is positively replete with typos. Surprising for such a reputable publisher.Most readers will find the carelessness on their behalf extremely irritating.

Routledge Murders a Great Work
Merleau-Ponty's work is nothing less than a classic, one of the great works of philosophy in the 20th century. It should go without saying, then, that this work should be made available in an up-to-date and scholarly translation.
Unfortunately, this is what Routledge has refused to do. Not only does this "new" edition maintain all of the known mistakes and inconsistencies of the original translation (most of which were not corrected when the translation was revised twenty years ago), but it also introduces literally dozens of type-setting errors. In addition to all of the obvious mistakes in punctuation and spelling (e.g., "intelfection" on p. xx; "in a world" instead of "in a word" on p. 129; "deralizes" for "derealizes" on p. 140; "writes" for "writers," p. 163; "Rinswanger" for "Binswanger," note 6, p. 185, and the list goes on and on), you will also encounter such lovely gems as "Bergson's inferiority" (instead of "interiority", p. 67) and "adduction" transformed into "abduction" -- when distinguishing between the two is precisely the point of Merleau-Ponty's discussion (p. 243). In short, an already flawed translation has now been bungled into a bloody mess. If you are reading this book for the first time, you would be well-advised to check the used bookstores for a copy of the earlier edition. If you are trying to use this text with students, lots of luck to you!
It is also worth mentioning that Routledge has again failed to include a translation of Merleau-Ponty's original table of contents in this edition, so that many English readers are still unaware that he provided a detailed outline of the entire text to guide the reader. A translation by Daniel Guerriere is available in the Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 10, no. 1 (1979) - although, of course, the page numbers no longer correspond to this "new" edition.

A masterpiece!
Merleau-Ponty's masterpiece is really an exquisite piece of writing.I know from an excellent source that there is a new translation coming soon.The French to English translation was done by a French professor, not a philosopher so some of M-P's subtle nuances are lost.Then again, so much is lost in translation anyway.Anyway you slice it, though, it is an excellent read and I recommend it full-heartedly.

Wonderful
Very prompt shipping and the book was in excellent condition when it arrived, in plenty of time for classes starting.

Stunning
While reading this book you get a sense of a man truly on the verge of profound truth.It's a difficult read (the section on time alone will make you wonder if the book is written in English) yet it's importance is still being discovered.More grounded in science than Sartre or Heidegger, MP's work is that of a supremely disciplined thinker, one who builds a case and sees it through a series of arguments supported by actual evidence. (although the evidence is from studies done 50 years ago, it's impressive how much his work still holds up in the face of current cognitive science research)

I have two complaints with the book.One is the translation.While I'm sure MP is a difficult read in any language, the sentence structure is nearly incomprehensible at times.It's hard for me to believe that the best, most accurate translation would leave it so awkward.My second problem is the index.If you ever want to find anything in the book after you read it I suggest you dogear it because the index is a cruel joke. ... Read more

Book Description
Merleau-Ponty was a pivotal figure in twentieth century French philosophy. He was responsible for bringing the phenomenological methods of the German philosophers, Husserl and Heidegger, to France and instigated a new wave of interest in this approach. His influence extended well beyond the boundaries of philosophy and can be seen in theories of politics, art and language.

This is the first volume to bring together a comprehensive selection of Merleau-Ponty's writing and presents a cross-section of his work which shows the historical progression of his ideas and influence. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A wide ranging intellect
As someone with strong backgrounds in neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy I can only applaud M-P's wide-ranging curiosity and knowledge and his refusal to be limited by the artificial boundaries of academic disciplines. His discussion of the phenomenology of perception draws its data and conclusions from many areas--as long as they had something to offer in illuminating and analyzing this important area.

Among M-P's many contributions, there was also, as scholar Glen Mazis put it in one of his reviews here, M-P's "...project to shift the ground of philosophy and phenomenology by diving into the depth of the perceptual world and turning to art as a touchstone for a reawakened perceptual experience."

In this regard, I am reminded of the great but insufficiently appreciated philosopher, Samuel Alexander, who wrote in the early 20th century, in his major work, Space, Time, and Deity. Alexander was similarly eclectic, and moved back and forth between deduction, induction, historical argument, and between science and philosophy, without any sense of discontinuity whatever. In other words, he was willing to use whatever worked.

But getting back to M-P, this book represents M-P's thoroughgoing approach to the phenomenology of perception and in its determination to ground such analysis in the ordinary data of everyday life--much as G.E. Moore attempted to ground his metaphysics in very ordinary, everyday facts. M-P is to be commended for a similar approach in this book also in his The Phenomenology of Perception.

Flesh Ontology
The working notes of this book are utterly staggering in their implication to ontology. What is being? Merleau answers in the manner of Lao-Tse, and alludes to something like a divine-feminine at the heart of wild perception. It was said by Sartre in his autobiography "Situations" that after Merleau's mother died who was like a "goddess" to him Merleau returned began the project anew. What is intimated in the working notes is invaluable to the true student of philosophy and life.And in the end, Merleau returns to the very object of his study. You can really feel this descent at the book nears its end. It is, however, an ascent of the entirety of the history of philosophy to a new level of comprehension. That I assure you.

Merleau-Ponty's Last Work
The Visible and the Invisible is the last work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, left unfinished by his untimely death. (Does anyone really have a timely death?)

In this volume from Northwestern University Press, the unfinished text is appended by the working notes for the volume in an excellent translation by Alphonso Lingis with deft editing and a sterling introduction by Claude Lefort.

Merleau-Ponty, arguably the greatest philosopher of the Twentieth Century (he does not carry the baggage Heidegger does), was moving in this volume to a new determination of the relationship between phenomenology and ontology. Reading the volume and the working notes leads the reader to wonder how successful it would have been had Merleau-Ponty lived to publish it. As it is, it adds up to another of the intangibles taht make Western intellectual history such an enticing puzzle. Recommended for anyone interested in Twentieth Century philosophy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Important Reading for Students of Merleau-Ponty
"La Nature" is a volume that should be most welcome by students of Merleau-Ponty. It is a translation of three courses given by Merleau-Ponty at the College de France.

The first course, given in 1956-57 is entitled "The Concept of Nature," a survey of the historical elements that constitute the present concept of nature, from Aristotle and the Stoics, through a new reading of Descartes, Kant and a novel look at Schelling. From there it's on to Bergson and Husserl. Merleau-Ponty is tracing the idea of nature in each thinker and how it corresponds to ontology, attempting a new vision of nature more in step with recent developments in science. But he squanders the gains he made when he deals with the developments in physics. This stands as the weakest part of the lectures. Though he gives a good summary of quantum mechanics, he fails to understand the ramifications of quantum physics and its effect on nature, and, ultimately, ontology, preferring instead to hide behind Bergson and the process philosophy of Whitehead. Instead of using the new physics as a starting point, he instead settles for the cul-de-sac of metaphysics.

The second course given in 1957-58, is concerned with deconstructing the Cartesian concept of Nature by examining the recent advances in biology and behavioral studies. Animal as machine is replaced by the animal as being finding itself in the world: How does the animal show itself to others (including humans) - leading to asking what is the structure, then, of its behavior and how does it signify? His lecture of Lorenz's study of instinct is the highlight of this section.

The third course, 1959-60, is entitled "Nature and Logos: The Human Body." He re-examines his findings of the previous years and the emergence of the human body at the intersection of Nature and reason: "the concern is to grasp humanity first as another manner of being a body - to see humanity emerge just like Being in the manner of a watermark, not as another substance, but as `interbeing', and not as an imposition of a for-itself on a body in-itself." This would later begin to developed in his last work, "The Visible and the Invisible," left unfinished by his sudden death. One can only wonder where he might have gone had he only lived to complete the work. These lectures give us a tantalizing peek into what well may have been. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

excellent introduction to the philosophy of the body and Merleau-Ponty's Work
After teaching and writing about the phenomenology of the body and Merleau-Ponty for three decades, I am often asked what of his works to start with and I usually say this one for the more serious reader. The essays are engaging and complex and go to the heart of Merleau-Ponty's perspective on how embodiemnt is our way of knowing the world and expressing it. "The Child's Relations with Others" is a brilliant extrapolation from psychological studies of how infants dwell in a shared embodiment and world with other infants and persons, a prereflective realm of affect and perception. This experience will remain as an acquisition throughout life that will surface in love and friendship--the echo of the infant's shared body with others. It may also be repressed by abuse, and Merleau-Ponty looks at this, long before others. "Eye and Mind" is the most concise articulation of both Merleau-Ponty's later poetic "re-languaging" of philosophy and his notion of the artist as expressing our "reversible" relationship with the world around us through a heightening of aspects of perception--where part of what we perceive is how we appear AS IF WE WERE being perceived by that object. It articulates how we only "come to ourselves" through the world, and how the artists expresses this journey of perception and imagination. The other essays are equally powerful. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Essential for understanding his second book
Merleau-Ponty is far better known for his second book, the monumental Phenomenology of Perception.The Structure of Behavior is an earlier stab at the same themes, and its philosophical views are less developed than on the latter work.

Does this make it optional reading for those seeking to understand Merleau-Ponty?Not at all.In the first two chapters of Structure of Behavior, Merleau-Ponty discusses and critiques the major currents of theoretical psychology in his time (Behaviorism and Gestalttheorie), at a level of detail far beyond that which he does in the Phenomenology of Perception.In fact, in the initial chapters of the latter work, he repeatedly refers the reader to the earlier one's discussion of psychology.While the Phenomenology of Perception is justly celebrated for its engagement with the facts and findings of empirical psychology, it surprisingly does not reveal Merleau-Ponty's knowledge of the discipline like the present book does.

In short, students of his latter work will do very well to read at least the first chapter of this book, probably the first two.One will find it much easier to understand his psychological background after reading them.

A psychologist's philosopher
Merleau-Ponty's background in psychology is evident in this wonderful yet dense volume. Merleau-Ponty begins a critique of psychology that starts by questioning the assumption of the reflex in psychophysiology, continues, byquestioning Pavlovian reflexology, and culminates with a view of behavioras comprised of transummative orders. In reaching this conclusion,Merleau-Ponty recapitulates the Gestalt psychology notion of a whole beinggreater than its parts. Readers and scholars should find a great deal inMerleau-Ponty that can be related to John Dewey, G.H. Mead, and J.J.Gibson. The scholar willing to undertake the project of tracing the linesof thinking emanating from Gestalt Psychology's turn-of-the-centuryinfluence will find Merleau-Ponty a towering figure whose work cannot beignored. ... Read more

Book Description
TEXTS AND DIALOGUES contains essays, interviews, and exchanges by one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century.It is now available for the first time in English translation, accompanied by contemporary evaluations of Merleau-Ponty's philosophical activities, an introduction by the editors, and a comprehensive Merleau-Ponty bibliography.

"Merleau-Ponty's concept of perception provided a platform not only for criticising the prejudices of 'classical' thought, but also for a vast range of writings on politics (from an unaligned 'revolutionary socialist' standpoint), literature, and art.[This book] functions like an ideal biography.It gives us a sense of Merleau-Ponty in his 'carnal singularity'; and it makes you realise how desperately sad it is that in 1961, when he was in his early fifties, and full of plans and hopes, he died." -- Jonathan Ree, "Radical Philosophy"

"What we find in these pieces that span Merleau-Ponty's career is a philosopher coming to terms with social and political shifts, intellectual currents, and the movements of history in the midst of which he found himself." -- Wayne J. Froman, "Canadian Philosophical Review"

"The introduction...provides the best intellectual biography of Merleau-Ponty currently available in English.It is comprehensive, highly condensed, and affords the reader a capsule vision of Merleau-Ponty's development as a thinker." -- M.C. Dillon, Distinguished Teaching Professor, SUNY, Binghamton

"Maurice Merleau-Ponty commented widely, in journals and weeklies, on major issues in politics and major shifts in post-war European culture.He was so scrupulously informed on what he wrote about, with vigor and originality, that many of these writings have hardly dated and will enrich the debates of today.This volume also contains some evaluations Merleau-Ponty made of, and positions he took with regard to, the philosophical writings of his contemporaries.These shed significant light on his own published books of philosophy." -- Alphonso Lingis, Professor of Philosophy, Pennsylvania State University

"Among the recent books on Merleau-Ponty, this one will prove most useful and interesting, revealing unknown aspects of his thought, further clarifying his philosophy.It is also important because these works are not otherwise available, even in French." -- M.R. Barral, "Choice"

"The writings of Merleau-Ponty contained in this volume span the entire length of his philosophical career from 1933 to 1960 . . . TEXTS AND DIALOGUES is an indispensable book for anybody seeking a serious knowledge of Merleau-Ponty's philosophical itinerary, as well as for the grain of his voice that we hear throughout." -- Bernard Flynn, "Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal" ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Dialectic without Dreams
Merleau-Ponty is generally read for his work in phenomenology, not his work on dialectics. This is both a pity and a mistake. While he certainly does deserve to be remembered as the third great phenomenologist of the past century, after Husserl & Heidegger, his being forgotten as a dialectical thinker is almost inexplicable.

I say almost inexplicable because, I fear, the reason he is ignored as a dialectical thinker is because he advocated, and superbly demonstrated, a dialectic without myths, utopia or dreams. In the great chapter (2) on Lukacs he says, "[t]he dialectic is this continued intuition, a consistent reading of actual history, the re-establishment of the tormented relations, of the interminable exchanges, between subject and object. There is only one knowledge, which is the knowledge of our world in a state of becoming, and this becoming embraces knowledge itself." He speaks of interminable exchanges, implies the permanence of tormented relations, affirms that knowledge always becomes. This is a dialectic scraped clean of the utopianism of the Marxist classless society, contemptuous of some miraculous Kojevean 'End of History', sans any vain 'Hegelian' promise of some never-never land in which Science will precisely equal Wisdom.

So then why dialectic, or, more precisely, why use the dialectical method if it offers no goal? Immediately after the sentences quoted above M-P says, "[b]ut it is knowledge that teaches us this." The dialectic, as M-P understands it, gives us, better - can give us, an understanding of history, and our present, but as to the future it promises exactly nothing. How could it promise more? If becoming, and the unknown, press on us forever, every totalization is always in danger of being threatened by some unanticipated contingency that changes this totalization into some unpredicted, and above all, unpredictable (until it occurs) Other.

By way of contrast let me now mention that for Hegel, finally, one could say that Dialectic remained a retrospective method and not a predictive science - at least until the precise end of the dialectical process. "The Owl of Minerva takes flight only at night." But, for Hegel, I think it is correct to say that when Subject and Object become One, Forever, we will be able to say that the all-knowing owl is always flying because the Absolute (Spirit) is always dark. We now perhaps better understand the content of the Hegelian characterization of (and objection to) the early position of Schelling - as a 'night in which all cows are black' - this position wasn't wrong; it was merely premature. Thus at the extreme end of Hegelian theory, one is always in danger of seeing it toppling over into the Kojevean 'End of History' position, which M-P in the epilogue characterizes as an idealization of death.

M-P holds, in this book, that this is not the position of Marx and Lukacs. "In Marx spirit becomes a thing, while things become saturated with spirit. History's course is a becoming of meanings transformed into forces or institutions. This is why there is an inertia of history in Marx and also an appeal to human invention in order to complete the dialectic. Marx cannot therefore transfer to, and lay to the account of, matter the same rationality which Hegel ascribes to spirit." Hegel is pleased to be taken to mean that Spirit is an active helpful partner of humanity in dialectic; a materialist dialectic can make no such claims of matter. What Merleau-Ponty, btw, is here denying, for those who have ears, is that there can be an end to any genuine material dialectic. ...Matter itself is permanently, in every human sense, an irrational factor. In other words, being and reason can never be one. Whatever Rationality in things we find - we find it there because we put it there. "Marxism cannot hide the Welt-geist in matter." Dialectic in which a dialectical partner is permanently non-rational becomes a science of circumstances. Thus M-P maintains that for Lukacs (and, I think, himself) that only revolutionary creativity can `guarantee' "a coherent and homogenous system."

...But no system is permanent. "A dialectical conception demands only that, between capitalism, where it exists, and its antecedents, be one of an integrated society to a less integrated one." By more integrated M-P means a more `socialized' society, societies in which, since there is more common ground, "destinies can be compared." It is ultimately here in social interaction that, for M-P, dialectical knowledge arises. But, as indicated earlier, nothing is guaranteed. "The principle of the logic of history is not that all problems posed are solved in advance, that the solution precedes the problem, or that there would be no question if the answer did not pre-exist somewhere, as if history were built on exact ideas. One should rather formulate it negatively: there is no event which does not bring further precision to the permanent problem of knowing what man and his society are..." One is here tempted to say that M-P here answers two of the questions we asked at the beginning of the review. Why resort to the method of dialectic? - It brings (or exposes a) further precision to our knowledge of the problem of man. Why no certain Telos, no end to history, no grand finale that finds Science and Wisdom in permanent embrace? - The "problem of knowing what man and his society are" is permanent.

For M-P the problems of society reside only in human history; neither spirit nor matter will save us. "The sense of history is then threatened at every step with going astray and constantly needs to be reinterpreted." "There is less a sense of history than an elimination of non-sense." Oh, and this indeed would be the 'reason' M-P, the dialectical thought of M-P, was forgotten. A dialectic, shorn of fairy tale, certainty or reward, would attract none of our scholarly saints, or even our Leninist `realists.' Over the last two centuries there have been only three reasons, often entwined, to turn to dialectic; the pursuit of Knowledge, the pursuit of utopia/revolution, or the pursuit ofsome always obscure inner `intuition' or joy. ...Apparently, given the way M-P is ignored by Hegelian and Marxist dialecticians, the only pursuit that was decisive was the last.

This has only been a brief commentary on a small slice, a handful of pages, of this superb book, that, I hope, will make others interested enough to read it. The discussions of Weber, Lukacs, Trotsky and Sartre are all excellent. M-P is a political philosopher who deserves to be read along with the great and important political philosophers of the 20th century: Georg Lukacs, Antonio Gramsci, Hannah Arendt, Carl Schmitt and Leo Strauss. Ignore any of them and increase your ignorance. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Review of Metaphysics, published by Thomson Gale on March 1, 2006. The length of the article is 815 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. Nature, Course Notes from the College de France.(Book review)
Author: Leonard Lawlor
Publication: The Review of Metaphysics (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 59Issue: 3Page: 663(2)

Article Type: Book review

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Book Description
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