From: GBORGERSON-AT-delphi.com Date: Sun, 28 Jun 1998 15:02:10 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: Mind & Body, One More Time Dear Micheal, To my knowledge although Merleau-Ponty was familiar with Heidegger's work I am unaware if he ever addressed the use of the word Dasein. He certainly didnot use in his works as a major concept. The philosophy of the flesh was the concept that he was working on at the time of his death that he was never able to finish. In his last work it is clear that "the flesh" was two sided in his formulation having the qualities of both the visible and the invisible. These qualities were inseparably intertwined. Its pretty clear that just because you can make a distinction it doesn't mean that they are not interdependent. I believe that Merleau-Ponty would accept the idea of flesh as an openness of being in the world as for Merleau-Ponty the relation of the person to the world is everything and form the basis for "The Phenomenology of Perception". In the "Invisible and the Invisible" M-P is returning to this theme in a more philosophical and less psychological way. He is also reworking his own formulations informed by developing a deeper appreciation of the role of language. Merleau-Ponty would appreciate your descriptions of how the body is inescapable and how it is a resistence. Both of these are themes he articulates repeatedly throughout hhis work as well as the idea that the body is an object unlike anyother object in the world because of its inescapablity and its resistence. I think what distinguishes I think what distinguishes Merleau-Ponty from Heidegger is the French obsession with reflective experience which certainly obsesses his mentor Sartre. But I'm still thinking this through. I don't think that Merleau-Ponty could accept your formulation entirely that it is one aspect of dasein's finiteness to be embodied. Not because embodiment is finiteing but because to call it one aspect of Dasein's finitness diminishes the role that embodiment plays in human experience. Embodiment is central for Merlea-Ponty. Thanks for the response Micheal, Greg --- from list heidegger-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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