The Cambridge Companion to Merleau-Ponty

by Edited by Taylor Carman , Mark B. N. Hansen

• ISBN13: 9780521007771
• ISBN10: 0521007771
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-09-20
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961) was described by Paul Ricoeur as 'the greatest of the French phenomenologists'. The new essays in this volume examine the full scope of Merleau-Ponty's philosophy, from his central and abiding concern with the nature of perception and the bodily constitution of intentionality to his reflections on science, nature, art, history, and politics. The authors explore the historical origins and context of his thought as well as its continuing relevance to contemporary work in phenomenology, philosophy of mind, cognitive science, biology, art criticism and political and social theory. What emerges is a fresh image of Merleau-Ponty as a deep and original thinker whose philosophical importance has been underestimated, in part owing to the influence of intellectual movements such as existentialism and structuralism, into which his work could not be easily assimilated. New readers will find this the most convenient and accessible guide to Merleau-Ponty currently available.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors	vii
Introduction	1	(264)
TAYLOR CARMAN AND MARK B.N. HANSEN
1 Merleau-Ponty and the Epistemological Picture	26	(24)
CHARLES TAYLOR
2 Sensation, Judgment, and the Phenomenal Field	50	(24)
TAYLOR CARMAN
3 Seeing Things in Merleau-Ponty	74	(37)
SEAN DORRANCE KELLY
4 Motives, Reasons, and Causes	111	(18)
MARK A. WRATHALL
5 Merleau-Ponty and Recent Cognitive Science	129	(22)
HUBERT L. DREYFUS
6 The Silent, Limping Body of Philosophy	151	(30)
RICHARD SHUSTERMAN
7 Merleau-Ponty and the Touch of Malebranche	181	(25)
JUDITH BUTLER
8 A Phenomenology of Life	206	(25)
RENAUD BARBARAS
9 The Embryology of the (In)visible	231	(34)
MARK B. N. HANSEN
10 Merleau-Ponty's Existential Conception of Science	265	(26)
JOSEPH ROUSE
11 Between Philosophy and Art	291	(27)
JONATHAN GILMORE
12 Understanding the Engaged Philosopher: On Politics, Philosophy, and Art	318	(34)
LYDIA GOEHR
13 Thinking Politics	352	(29)
CLAUDE LEFORT
References	381	(12)
Index	393