Nature according to Merleau-Ponty: Variations on the Theme

Abstract

The last courses that Merleau-Ponty held at the Collège de France concern, on one hand to the “Concept of Nature” and, on the other hand, to the “Possibility of Philosophy Today.” These two trends find their point of convergence in the attempt to elaborate a “New Ontology”. In fact, according to Merleau-Ponty, the preferred way to achieve this enterprise consists in rethinking the Ontology of Nature. According to him, science cannot do this. All that science can do is “remove the evidential character from the pseudo-evidences” we have about nature. Besides, we can bring the current —”today’s”— relationship between Man and Being, through the Ontology of Nature, which of course differs from the traditional opposition between subject and object, to an explicit philosophical formulation.