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11 - Perception

from PART III - INVENTIONS

David R. Cerbone
Affiliation:
West Virginia University
Rosalyn Diprose
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales
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Summary

As the title to his central work – Phenomenology of Perception – indicates, perceptual experience is a, if not the, central topic of Merleau-Ponty's philosophy. The title indicates additionally that his approach to that topic is phenomenological. Merleau-Ponty insists that a phenomenology of perception is absolutely vital for arriving at an understanding of perception's place in our overarching conception of ourselves and the world around us. Too often, he thinks, perceptual experience has been overlooked or mischaracterized so that its founding role has not been fully appreciated; too often, philosophers and scientists have tried to characterize perception in terms that are both descriptively inadequate and explanatorily inert. Such descriptions of experience tend to introduce notions – sensations, stimuli, judgements – that are not really present in our perceptual experience, and such explanations tend to appeal to processes that owe their sense to the prior workings of perception. Too often, in other words, the philosopher or the scientist describes perceptual experience “as one might describe the fauna of a distant land – without being aware that he himself perceives, that he is the perceiving subject and that perception as he lives it belies everything that he says of perception in general” (PP: 207).

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Chapter
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Merleau-Ponty
Key Concepts
, pp. 121 - 131
Publisher: Acumen Publishing
Print publication year: 2008

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  • Perception
  • Edited by Rosalyn Diprose, University of New South Wales
  • Book: Merleau-Ponty
  • Online publication: 05 February 2013
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/UPO9781844654024.011
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  • Perception
  • Edited by Rosalyn Diprose, University of New South Wales
  • Book: Merleau-Ponty
  • Online publication: 05 February 2013
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/UPO9781844654024.011
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Perception
  • Edited by Rosalyn Diprose, University of New South Wales
  • Book: Merleau-Ponty
  • Online publication: 05 February 2013
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/UPO9781844654024.011
Available formats
×