MERLEAU-PONTY AND FOUCAULT:

SOME APPROACHMENTS AND DEPARTURES

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7443/problemata.v15i1.68862

Keywords:

Michel Foucault, Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology, Archeology, Subject

Abstract

This paper examines the philosophical relationship between Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Michel Foucault, exploring the apparent opposition between their phenomenological and archaeological approaches. Initially, the paper highlights Merleau-Ponty's perspective on the Phenomenology of Perception and contrasts it with Foucault's archaeological discourse, examining his rejection of an analysis grounded in an originating subject. Foucault criticizes phenomenology, underscoring his refusal to adopt a view that anchors history in the subject. Moreover, the paper explores the phenomenological analysis, demonstrating the extent to which Foucault distanced himself from this conception. Reflecting on a possible reconciliation, the paper argues that certain foundations of Foucault's archaeological description, suggesting a potential convergence, can be found in Merleau-Ponty's proposals for phenomenology. The investigation extends to revisit Foucault's allusions to Merleau-Ponty, emphasizing nuances in the intellectual interactions between the two thinkers. Going beyond a historical narrative, the essay seeks to elucidate philosophical convergences and divergences, meticulously analyzing the modulations of their approaches concerning the issues of the subject, object, and subjectivity.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Gustavo Ruiz da Silva, University of Warwick | Monash University

Bacharel em Filosofia (Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil). Doutorando em Filosofia pela University of Warwick (Reino Unido) e pela Monash University (Austrália). Bolsista da Monash-Warwick Alliance. Membro do "Grupo de Pesquisa Michel Foucault" (CNPq/ Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, Brasil). 

References

COLEBROOK, Claire. Foucault: Anti-Representationalism and Logophobia. In: COLEBROOK, Claire. Philosophy and Poststructuralist Theory: From Kant to Deleuze. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005.

CROSSLEY, N. The Politics of the Gaze: Between Foucault and Merleau-Ponty. Human Studies, v. 16, n. 4, p. 399-419, 1993.

DELEUZE, G. Foucault. Translated by Sean Hand. London: Continuum, 1999.

DREYFUS, H. Y.; RABINOW, P. Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1983.

FOUCAULT, Michel. The Archaeology of Knowledge. Trans. A.M. Sheridan Smith, New York: Pantheon Books, 1972.

FOUCAULT, Michel. “Foucault”. In: M. B. Motta (Org.). Ditos e escritos V: ética, sexualidade, política. Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Forense Universitária, 2004, p. 234-239.

FOUCAULT, Michel. A arqueologia do Saber. Tradução de Luiz Felipe Baeta Neves. 7. ed. Rio de Janeiro: Forense Universitária, 2008.

GOMES, J. R. A experiência do tocar e a reversibilidade da carne em Merlea-Ponty. Orientador: Iraquitan de Oliveira Caminha, 2016. Dissertação (Mestrado em Filosofia) – Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa, 2016.

HAN, B. L’ontologie manquée de Michel Foucault. Grenoble: Jérôme Millon, 1998.

LEGRAND, Stephane. As Close as Possible to the Unlivable: (Michel Foucault and Phenomenology). Sophia, v. 47, 2008.

MERLEAU-PONTY, Maurice. Phenomenology of Perception. Trans. Colin Smith, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1962.

MERLEAU-PONTY, Maurice. “The Primacy of Perception and its Philosophical Consequences”. In: EDIE, James M. (Ed.). The Primacy of Perception and Other Essays. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1964.

MERLEAU-PONTY, Maurice. The visible and the invisible. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1968.

MERLEAU-PONTY, Maurice. Notes de cours 1959-1961. Paris: Gallimard, 1996.

MERLEAU-PONTY, Maurice. Fenomenologia da Percepção. Tradução Carlos Alberto Ribeiro de Moura. 2. ed. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 1999.

MERLEAU-PONTY, Maurice. O Visível e o Invisível. 14. ed. Trad. J. A. Gianotti e A. M. d’Oliveira. São Paulo: Ed. Perspectiva, 2003.

MURPHY, Ann V. Strange Company: Foucault and Merleau-Ponty on Phenomenology and its Ethics. Chiasmi International, v. 3, 2002.

OKSALA, J. Foucault on Freedom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

SABOT, P. Lire Les Mots et Les Choses de Michel Foucault. Paris: PUF, 2006.

SABOT, P. Foucault et Merleau-Ponty : un dialogue impossible ? Les Études philosophiques, n. 106, 2013.

SCOTT, Charles. Foucault’s Practice of Thinking. Research in Phenomenology, n. 14, 1984.

SHINER, Larry. Foucault, Phenomenology, and the Question of Origins. Philosophy Today, v. 26, Winter 1982.

VISKER, Rudi. Truth and Singularity: Taking Foucault into Phenomenology. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999.

Published

2024-06-30

Issue

Section

Papers