Chiasms: Merleau-Ponty's Notion of Flesh

by Evans, Fred; Lawlor, Leonard

• ISBN13: 9780791446867
• ISBN10: 0791446867
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-01
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Summary

Some of the best interpretations and evaluations of Merleau-Ponty's innovative notions of chiasm and flesh are presented here by prominent scholars from the United States and Europe. Divided into three sections, the book first establishes the notion of the flesh as a consistent concept and unfolds the nuances of flesh that make it a compelling idea. The second section adds to the force of this idea by showing how flesh can be extended to phenomena that Merleau-Ponty was not able to treat, such as the internet and virtual reality, and the third offers criticisms of Merleau-Ponty from feminist and Levinasian points of view. All the essays attest to the fecundity of Merleau-Ponty's later thought for such central philosophical issues as the bonds between self, others, and the world.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
List of Abbreviations	ix
Introduction: The Value of Flesh: Merleau-Ponty's Philosophy and the Modernism/Postmodernism Debate	1	(22)
Fred Evans
Leonard Lawlor
PART I. Explications of the Flesh
World, Flesh, Vision	23	(28)
Francoise Dastur
Flesh and Verb in the Philosophy of Merleau-Ponty	51	(26)
Henri Maldiney
Perception and Movement: The End of the Metaphysical Approach	77	(12)
Renaud Barbaras
The Paradox of Expression	89	(14)
Bernhard Waldenfels
``In Praise of Philosophy'': A Hermeneutical Rereading	103	(18)
Jean Greisch
The Thinking of the Sensible	121	(10)
Mauro Carbone
Is Merleau-Ponty Inside or Outside the History of Philosophy?	131	(16)
Hugh J. Silverman
PART II. Extensions of the Flesh
The World at a Glance	147	(18)
Edward S. Casey
Blind Man Seeing: From Chiasm to Hyperreality	165	(12)
Edith Wyschogrod
Merleau-Ponty and the Origin of Geometry	177	(12)
Marjorie Hass
Lawrence Hass
Embodying Perceptions of Death: Emotional Apprehension and Reversibilities of Flesh	189	(14)
Suzanne Laba Cataldi
Ecart: The Space of Corporeal Difference	203	(16)
Gail Weiss
PART III. Limitations of the Flesh
Wild Meaning: Luce Irigaray's Reading of Merleau-Ponty	219	(18)
Tina Chanter
Recursive Incarnation and Chiasmic Flesh: Two Readings of Paul Celan's ``Chymisch''	237	(14)
James Hatley
Merleau-Ponty and Feminist Theory on Experience	251	(22)
Linda Martin Alcoff
Contributors	273	(4)
Index	277