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The Merleau-Ponty Reader
The first book to offer a comprehensive view of Maurice Merleau-Ponty's work. The Merleau-Ponty Reader collects the essays necessary to understand the core of this critical twentieth-century philosopher's thought. Of great interest are the previously unpublished working notes found in Merleau-Ponty's papers after his death and several essays that appear here in English for the first time. The editors also have provided an introductory overview of Merleau-Ponty and the works included herein and have updated all English translations. By situating Merleau-Ronty's writings on the philosophy of art and politics within the overall development of this thought, this volume allows readers to see both the breadth of his contribution to philosophy and the convergence of the various strands of his reflection.
490 pages, Paperback
First published October 19, 2007
About the author
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
114 books523 followersFrench phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger in addition to being closely associated with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. At the core of Merleau-Ponty's philosophy is a sustained argument for the foundational role that perception plays in understanding the world as well as engaging with the world. Like the other major phenomenologists Merleau-Ponty expressed his philosophical insights in writings on art, literature, and politics; however Merleau-Ponty was the only major phenomenologist of the first half of the Twentieth Century to engage extensively with the sciences, and especially with descriptive psychology. Because of this engagement, his writings have become influential with the recent project of naturalizing phenomenology in which phenomenologists utilize the results of psychology and cognitive science.
Merleau-Ponty was born in Rochefort-sur-Mer, Charente-Maritime. His father was killed in World War 1 when Merleau-Ponty was 3. After secondary schooling at the lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, Maurice Merleau-Ponty became a student at the École Normale Supérieure, where he studied alongside Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Simone Weil. He passed the agrégation in philosophy in 1930.
Merleau-Ponty first taught at Chartres, then became a tutor at the École Normale Supérieure, where he was awarded his doctorate on the basis of two important books: La structure du comportement (1942) and Phénoménologie de la Perception (1945).
After teaching at the University of Lyon from 1945 to 1948, Merleau-Ponty lectured on child psychology and education at the Sorbonne from 1949 to 1952. He was awarded the Chair of Philosophy at the Collège de France from 1952 until his death in 1961, making him the youngest person to have been elected to a Chair.
Besides his teaching, Merleau-Ponty was also political editor for Les Temps Modernes from the founding of the journal in October 1945 until December 1952.
Aged 53, he died suddenly of a stroke in 1961, apparently while preparing for a class on Descartes. He was buried in Le Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
Merleau-Ponty was born in Rochefort-sur-Mer, Charente-Maritime. His father was killed in World War 1 when Merleau-Ponty was 3. After secondary schooling at the lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, Maurice Merleau-Ponty became a student at the École Normale Supérieure, where he studied alongside Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Simone Weil. He passed the agrégation in philosophy in 1930.
Merleau-Ponty first taught at Chartres, then became a tutor at the École Normale Supérieure, where he was awarded his doctorate on the basis of two important books: La structure du comportement (1942) and Phénoménologie de la Perception (1945).
After teaching at the University of Lyon from 1945 to 1948, Merleau-Ponty lectured on child psychology and education at the Sorbonne from 1949 to 1952. He was awarded the Chair of Philosophy at the Collège de France from 1952 until his death in 1961, making him the youngest person to have been elected to a Chair.
Besides his teaching, Merleau-Ponty was also political editor for Les Temps Modernes from the founding of the journal in October 1945 until December 1952.
Aged 53, he died suddenly of a stroke in 1961, apparently while preparing for a class on Descartes. He was buried in Le Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 15, 2023
if you like this review i now have website: www.michaelkamakana.com
260215: this is not exactly a lesser merleau-ponty collection- it just contains work i have already read, or have little interest in, and with no new commentary or other-authored essays on the work presented. if this had been my first m-p collection, i think i would see it a five. but some i read here, again, as 'what is phenomenology?' twice, 'cezanne's doubt', third time, 'eye and mind', third time, some are perhaps required engagement of politics for mid-century philosophers, on marxism, politics, in 'human engineering', 'man and adversity', epilogue to 'adventures of the dialectic'... but i am always already uninterested in politics through philosophy...
on the other, yes these are great works by m-p, listen to him in conversation with other philosophers on 'primacy of perception and philosophical consequences', give a good sketch of his thought- even an unpublished prospectus of his work to which he is faithful- and a great exploration of what painting is to m-p in 'indirect language and voices of silence' and it is not difficult, but engaging, stimulating and always a bit sad to read and know it as his last work promised in 'chiasm', 'notes', or published in 'eye and mind'...
200201: more Merleau-Ponty's Ontology
Maurice Merleau-Ponty: Basic Writings
The Merleau-Ponty Aesthetics Reader: Philosophy and Painting
Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology: The Problem of Ideal Objects
The Phenomenological Philosophy of Merleau-Ponty
The Being of the Phenomenon: Merleau-Ponty's Ontology
The Visible and the Invisible
Merleau-Ponty's Last Vision: A Proposal for the Completion of "The Visible and the Invisible"
Deleuze, Bergson, Merleau-Ponty: The Logic and Pragmatics of Creation, Affective Life, and Perception
bonus
Ark of the Possible: The Animal World in Merleau-Ponty
260215: this is not exactly a lesser merleau-ponty collection- it just contains work i have already read, or have little interest in, and with no new commentary or other-authored essays on the work presented. if this had been my first m-p collection, i think i would see it a five. but some i read here, again, as 'what is phenomenology?' twice, 'cezanne's doubt', third time, 'eye and mind', third time, some are perhaps required engagement of politics for mid-century philosophers, on marxism, politics, in 'human engineering', 'man and adversity', epilogue to 'adventures of the dialectic'... but i am always already uninterested in politics through philosophy...
on the other, yes these are great works by m-p, listen to him in conversation with other philosophers on 'primacy of perception and philosophical consequences', give a good sketch of his thought- even an unpublished prospectus of his work to which he is faithful- and a great exploration of what painting is to m-p in 'indirect language and voices of silence' and it is not difficult, but engaging, stimulating and always a bit sad to read and know it as his last work promised in 'chiasm', 'notes', or published in 'eye and mind'...
200201: more Merleau-Ponty's Ontology
Maurice Merleau-Ponty: Basic Writings
The Merleau-Ponty Aesthetics Reader: Philosophy and Painting
Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology: The Problem of Ideal Objects
The Phenomenological Philosophy of Merleau-Ponty
The Being of the Phenomenon: Merleau-Ponty's Ontology
The Visible and the Invisible
Merleau-Ponty's Last Vision: A Proposal for the Completion of "The Visible and the Invisible"
Deleuze, Bergson, Merleau-Ponty: The Logic and Pragmatics of Creation, Affective Life, and Perception
bonus
Ark of the Possible: The Animal World in Merleau-Ponty
March 31, 2013
Read Cezanne's Doubt.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews