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

In the first three lectures, we argued with respect to science,painting and philosophy that the transition from classical tomodern was marked by what might be thought of as a reawakeningof the world of perception. We are once more learningto see the world around us, the same world which we hadturned away from in the conviction that our senses had nothingworthwhile to tell us, sure as we were that only strictlyobjective knowledge was worth holding onto. We are rediscoveringour interest in the space in which we are situated.Though we see it only from a limited perspective – our perspective– this space is nevertheless where we reside and werelate to it through our bodies. We are rediscovering in everyobject a certain style of being that makes it a mirror of humanmodes of behaviour. So the way we relate to the things of theworld is no longer as a pure intellect trying to master an object69