Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology: The Problem of Ideal Objects (Continuum Studies in Continental Philosophy, 12)

Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology reconstructs Merleau-Ponty's treatment of the problem of ideal objects. Besmer describes Merleau-Ponty's early attempt to found ideal objects on pre-linguistic, perceptual experience and shows that Merleau-Ponty ultimately came to see the shortcomings of this initial view. An examination of often ignored writings from the middle-period of Merleau-Ponty's career allows Besmer to piece together Merleau-Ponty's mature view of ideal objects, one that does not overlook the contributions of perception but emphasizes the historical and cultural nature of ideal objects and one's experience of them. Merleau-Ponty's final view of ideal objects takes ideal meanings in language as paradigmatic and understands ideal objects as embedded in cultural practices and institutions. Kirk Besmer's book is the first ever to be devoted to the problem of ideal objects in Merleau-Ponty's thought. Showing for the first time the crucial conceptual developments and revisions internal to Merleau-Ponty's thought, Besmer's book will change the way that Merleau-Ponty is read. Husserl and the problem of ideal objects Announcing the problem of ideal objects Husserl's late account of ideal objects in the crisis of European sciences and transcendental phenomenology Perception and the lifeworld History and the lifeworld The problem of ideal objects in the phenomenology of perception Ideal objects and the structure of behavior Phenomenology and fundierung Ideal meanings and the gestural theory of language Problems in the early account of ideal objects From perception to language : relocating the primordial The broadening of perception and the shift to cultural primordiality The problem of rationality in the middle period Phenomenology and the sciences of man Language and expression in the middle period On the possibility of a transcendental language Novel expression and rationality Novel expression and the voices of silence Intersubjectivity and the intermonde Constitution of the intermonde Fundierung, stiftung, and the standard reading of the middle period Stiftung, repetition, and truth Conclusion to the middle period Ideal objects in the late period Phenomenology and history History and rationality Language and the institution of ideal objects The problem of transcendence and the visible and the invisible. This innovative interpretation of central themes in Merleau-Ponty offers detailed treatment of texts and themes that are often ignored and emphasises Merleau-Ponty's understanding of language, providing a fresh reading of this key figure