Merleau-Ponty and Derrida on Husserl’s Origin of Geometry

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jffp.2023.1039

Keywords:

Merleau-Ponty, Jacques Derrida, Edmund Husserl, Lévy-Bruhl, philosophy of expression, philosophy of perception, philosophy of speech and language.

Abstract

Abstract: A number of claims made by Derrida concerning Merleau-Ponty’s interpretation of Husserl will be carefully considered and evaluated here. First, Derrida’s claim that Merleau-Ponty’s mis-interprets Husserl’s letter to Lévy-Bruhl will be challenged. Secondly, Derrida’s claim that his criticism of Husserl’s phenomenology can be applied just as well to Merleau-Ponty’s will be challenged. Thirdly, it is a careful consideration of textual evidence that will be used to support these challenges. Finally, Merleau-Ponty’s late lectures will take us back to the Lévy-Bruhl letter and finally to Merleau-Ponty’s own phenomenology of language, one that integrates perception and language and yet that still privileges not eidetic essences or linguistic expression but perception as its primary term.                                

 

Author Biography

Douglas Low, University of West FloridaFaculty emeritus

Retired Library Faculty

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Published

2024-04-12

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Section

Articles