Maurice Merleau-Ponty Communicates to the French Middle Classes
The World of Perception (2002 Publication of 1948 Radio Lectures) Maurice Merleau-Ponty Mid-twentieth century revolutions in thought have overturned much of the basis for an easy acceptance of Descartes and later Kant as guides to life, with Kierkegaard and Nietzche as early pioneers in unravelling some of the presumptions of essentialism. This is not to denigrate these 'great thinkers' of the canon but only to say that new thinking will inevitable emerge from old thoughts. Maurice Merleau-Ponty is a very significant figure in this context, not merely within modern continental philosophy but in preparing the ground for what looks likely to be seen as a much wider and consequent cultural revolution, one derived from the extension of the insights of the existentialist, phenomenological and hermeneutic schools, first into art and culture and increasingly into society and politics. This slim volume represents seven radio lectures given by Merleau-Ponty in 1948. The for...