Merleau-Ponty's Last Vision: A Proposal for the Completion of "The Visible and the Invisible" (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy)

Few writers' unfinished works are considered among their most important, but such is the case with Merleau-Ponty's The Visible and the Invisible . What exists of it is a mere beginning, yet it bridged modernism and postmodernism in philosophy. Low uses material from some of Merleau-Ponty's later works as the basis for completion. Working from this material and the philosopher's own outline, Low presents how this important work would have looked had Merleau-Ponty lived to complete it. "Few writers' unfinished works are considered among their most important, but such is the case with Maurice Merleau-Ponty's The Visible and the Invisible. What exists of it is a mere beginning, published posthumously, yet it bridged modernism and postmodernism in philosophy." "Merleau-Ponty is among the best of the "first generation" of French phenomenologists. His untimely death in 1961 left The Visible and the Invisible in a fragmentary state that exacerbates the text's difficulty and complexity. Low uses material from some of Merleau-Ponty's later works -- specifically, essays from 1952 onward and published lecture summaries from the College de France -- to provide the basis for completion. Working from this material and an outline of the book left by Merleau-Ponty, Low has written an account of how The Visible and the Invisible would have looked had Merleau-Ponty lived to complete it." "Low shows a thorough mastery of the material and clarifies many difficult issues. Rather than presenting an argument, he offers an integration and extrapolation that go far beyond mere summary of the material: this distinguished scholar provides commentary on a work that was never finished, on various texts that were never published together, and on some that were never intended for publication. Book jacket."--BOOK JACKET 0810118068......Page 1 Contents......Page 10 Preface......Page 12 Acknowledgments......Page 14 Abbreviations......Page 16 Introduction: A Proposal for Completing Merleau-Ponty’s: The Visible and the Invisible......Page 18 Part 1. “The Visible and Nature”......Page 24 1 Philosophical Interrogation......Page 26 2 The Visible......Page 46 3 Nature......Page 55 4 Classical Ontology and Modern Ontology......Page 73 Part 2. “The Invisible and Logos”......Page 86 5 “The Invisible and Logos”......Page 88 Notes......Page 130 Bibliography......Page 134 E......Page 138 M......Page 139 T......Page 140 W......Page 141 Douglas Low. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.