Embodied Idealism by Joseph C Berendzen

Embodied Idealism by Joseph C Berendzen

Embodied Idealism argues that Maurice Merleau-Ponty's early thought - primarily as found in The Structure of Behavior and Phenomenology of Perception - stands as a form of transcendental idealism. This interpretation runs against the grain of much of the Merleau-Ponty scholarship, and opposing interpretations are not without support. Merleau-Ponty is at points highly critical of idealism in his early works. Also, his emphasis on embodiment would seem to run counter to the idealist view that the mental is central to reality. Joseph Berendzen shows that these points can be accommodated within a transcendental idealist interpretation. Merleau-Ponty's overt criticisms of idealism are aimed at specific aspects of idealist theories that are not obligatory aspects of idealism in general. Rather, his critique is typically aimed at a specific version of intellectualist idealism associated with his teacher Léon Brunschvicg. In spite of his overt criticisms of idealism, Merleau-Ponty's early philosophy holds that our experience is inextricably structured by our minds. Furthermore, he holds that reality is ontologically dependent on the mind, yet in a manner that also allows for a sense in which reality is mind-independent. It is crucial to this interpretation that Merleau-Ponty's emphasis on embodiment leads to a unique view of embodied consciousness and subjectivity that supports a novel form of idealism, rather than motivating an anti-idealist position. Thus, his transcendental idealism is genuinely an embodied idealism.

Joseph C. Berendzen graduated with a BA, majors in Philosophy and History, from Saint Louis University in 1997 and received his PhD from Villanova University in 2002. He has served on the faculty of the Department of Philosophy at Loyola University New Orleans since 2004. His research focuses on 19th and 20th Century French and German philosophy, with emphases on phenomenology (especially the works of Maurice Merleau-Ponty), German idealism, and Frankfurt School critical theory.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780192874764
ISBN 10	0192874764
Title	Embodied Idealism
Author	Joseph C Berendzen
Condition	Unavailable
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	2023-06-22
Number of pages	288
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
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