The Preface to Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception: A Re-Introduction

This book offers a critical re-appraisal of what is perhaps Merleau-Ponty’s most widely read text, the Preface to his Phenomenology of Perception . Although open and enigmatic text, the Preface is still often used to introduce phenomenology in general and Merleau-Ponty’s work specifically to students, scholars in disciplines other than philosophy, and art practitioners. Taking advantage of the fact that many of his course notes have been posthumously published in the last few decades, this book situates the Preface to the Phenomenology of Perception in the context of Merleau-Ponty's later work and shows how it contains many of the threads on which Merleau-Ponty would later pull. In doing so, the book chapters elaborate key themes in the Preface: “Phenomenology and its Paradoxes,” “Phenomenology and its Method,” “Phenomenology and its Incompletion,” “Phenomenology and Non-Phenomenology." Readers will learn about the radicality of Merleau-Ponty’s early articulation of phenomenology, how much it already suggests the profound transformation of phenomenology usually associated with his more mature work. Contents Chapter 1: Introduction Outline of the Chapters Chapter 2: “Facts and Essences” Facts and Essences in the Natural and Phenomenological Attitudes A Vision of Facts and Essences According to the “First Rule” The Phenomenological Epochē Chapter 3: Intentionality Beyond Representationalism and into the Lived-Body Motivation and the Unmotivated Upsurge of the World Operative Intentionality Chapter 4: The Incomplete Reduction The Impossibility of a Complete Reduction Problem of Time and Space Incomplete Ontology Chapter 5: Phenomenology and Non-phenomenology Is Phenomenology the Rigorous Science? Ontology and Nature Reconsidered Phenomenology and the Psyche Reconsidered Does Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology Result in a Novel? Chapter 6: Concluding Remarks Chapter 7: Epilogue: On the Continued Relevance of the Preface Today Index