Maurice Merleau-Ponty: The World of Perception - Timothy R. Quigley

works of intellectuals, then to seek the restoration of reason(in the sense in which one speaks of restoration in the contextof the regime of 1815), would be a derisory response. We canand must analyse the ambiguities of our time and strive toplot a course through them which we can follow truthfullyand in all conscience. But we know too much about therationalism of our fathers to simply readopt it wholesale. Weknow, for example, that liberal regimes should not be taken attheir word, that they may well have equality and fraternity astheir motto without this being reflected in their actions; weknow that noble ideologies can sometimes be convenientexcuses. Moreover, we know that in order to create equality, itis not enough merely to transfer ownership of the means ofproduction to the state. Thus neither our examination ofsocialism nor our analysis of liberalism can be free of reservationsand limitations and we shall remain in this precariousposition for as long as the course of events and human consciousnesscontinue to offer no possibility of moving beyondthese two ambiguous systems. To decide the matter from onhigh by opting for one of the two, on the pretext that reasoncan get to the bottom of things, would be to show that wecare less about reason as it operates – reason in action – thanthe spectre of a reason which hides its confusion under aperemptory tone. To love reason as Julien Benda does – toclassical world, modern world