The Cambridge Companion to Merleau-Ponty

Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961) was described by Paul Ricoeur as "the greatest of the French phenomenologists". The new essays in this volume examine the full scope of Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy, from his central and abiding concern with the nature of perception and the bodily constitution of intentionality to his reflections on science, nature, art, history, and politics. The authors explore the historical origins and context of his thought as well as its continuing relevance to contemporary work in phenomenology, philosophy of mind, cognitive science, biology, art criticism and political and social theory. What emerges is a fresh image of Merleau-Ponty as a deep and original thinker whose philosophical importance has been underestimated, in part owing to the influence of intellectual movements such as existentialism and structuralism, into which his work could not be easily assimilated. New readers will find this the most convenient and accessible guide to Merleau-Ponty currently available.

• Systematic, comprehensive and accessible • Volumes in the series on modern figures tend to do better • Amongst big name contributors are Charles Taylor, Hubert Dreyfus and Judith Butler

Introduction Taylor Carman and Mark B. N. Hansen; 1. Merleau-Ponty and the epistemological picture Charles Taylor; 2. Sensation, judgment, and the phenomenal mind Taylor Carman; 3. Seeing things in Merleau-Ponty Sean Dorrance Kelly; 4. Motives, reasons and causes Mark A. Wrathall; 5. Merleau-Ponty and recent cognitive science Hubert L. Dreyfus; 6. The silent, limping body of philosophy Richard Shusterman; 7. Merleau-Ponty and the touch of Malebranche Judith Butler; 8. A phenomenology of life Renaud Barbaras; 9. The embryology of the (in)visible Mark B. N. Hansen; 10. Merleau-Ponty’s existential conception of science Joseph Rouse; 11. Between philosophy and art Jonathan Gilmore; 12. Understanding the engaged philosopher Lydia Goehr; 13. Thinking politics Claude Lefort.