Phenomenology, Institution and History

Stephen H. Watson is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, USA. His previous publications include Traditions I (Indiana University Press, 1997), Traditions II (Indiana University Press, 2001) and Reinterpreting the Political (SUNY Press, 1998).

• Abbreviations; 1 From the Ethics of Ambiguity to the Dialectics of Virtue: Merleau-Ponty in the "Ruins of the Spirit."; 2 Why Phenomenology? The Long Farewell to Subject-Centered Rationality.; 3 Theoretical Crisis, Dialogue, and the Stoicism of the Transcendental Singular.; 4 The Question of Community: An Interpretation of Lefort.; 5 Writing After Merleau-Ponty.; i. The Reorientation of Phenomenology: Beyond the "Ambition to See Everything; ii. Historicity and "The First-Second Person Singular:" Beyond Analysis. iii. The Dehiscence of Interpretation and the "Shadowing-Forth (Abschattung)" of the Visible.; iv. Philosophy and the Murmur of the Word.

"Watson interprets some of French phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty's (1908-61) controversial late arguments by tracing the complex relations that form their antecedents within the history and development of phenomenology. He covers from the ethics of ambiguity to the dialectics of virtue; the long farewell to subject- centered rationality; theoretical crisis, dialogue, and the stoicism of the transcendental singular; notes of Bachelard and Merleau-Ponty falling between phenomenology and poetics; the question of community in Lefort; and beyond the antinomies of expression in writing after Merleau-Ponty." - Eithne O'Leyne, BOOK NEWS, Inc.