Merleau-Ponty's Existential Phenomenology and the Realization of Philosophy

Bryan A. Smyth is Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Mississippi, USA. He has also taught philosophy at McGill University and Mount Allison University, Canada and the University of Memphis, USA.

• AcknowledgementsAbbreviationsPreface: Rereading Phenomenology of PerceptionIntroduction: Flight from Phenomenology?1. Antoine de Saint Exupéry, ‘Soliloquizing Angel’2. Embodiment and Incarnation3. Totality and Embodiment 4. Toward an Incarnational Phenomenology5. Contemporary Heroism Conclusion: Heroic SublimationAfterword Bibliography Index

Taking its cues from the references to Eugen Fink and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry that respectively begin and end Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception, Bryan Smyth delivers a spell-binding interpretation of Merleau-Ponty’s magnum opus. In particular, Smyth argues that it is the problem of method that is most definitive for Merleau-Ponty’s work, and, through an analysis of Merleau-Ponty’s use of the notion of “heroism,” he argues compellingly for the inherently political—and, specifically, Marxist—character of Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology. In this highly original analysis, Smyth demonstrates the rich relevance of Lukács’ Marxism, Catholic incarnationism and Binswanger’s psychology to Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy. The work is particularly strong for its emphasis on the themes of death, repression, class consciousness and the “tacit cogito” in Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy. This is an elegantly and clearly written book of essential importance to any serious student of Merleau-Ponty.