Course 3 · Module 1
Merleau-Ponty: The Primacy of Perception
Learn why Maurice Merleau-Ponty argued that perception, not thought, is our most basic contact with the world. You'll see how he dismantled both empiricist and intellectualist accounts of perception, describe the perceptual field with its figure–ground structure and constancies, and interpret his famous claim that the phenomenological reduction can never be completed. These ideas are the philosophical foundation of today's embodied and enactive approaches to perception and consciousness.
Module objectives
- Explain Merleau-Ponty's critique of empiricism and intellectualism as accounts of perception
- Describe the perceptual field, figure–ground structure, and perceptual constancy as features of lived perception
- Interpret Merleau-Ponty's reading of the phenomenological reduction and his claim that it can never be completed
Lessons
- Lesson 1 Primacy of Perception: Beyond Empiricism and Intellectualism This lesson presents Merleau-Ponty's argument, in the Introduction to Phenomenology of Perception, that neither empiricism nor intellectualism can account for perception… 61111h 3m
- Lesson 2 Primacy of Perception: The Perceptual Field This lesson describes perception as Merleau-Ponty found it: a field organized into figure and ground, open to horizons, and marked by constancies of size, shape, and color that no… 61111h 3m
- Lesson 3 Primacy of Perception: The Unfinished Reduction This lesson interprets the Preface to Phenomenology of Perception, where Merleau-Ponty rethinks phenomenology's method: the return to the things themselves, the reduction… 611111h 33m
Further reading
These are the primary texts behind the ideas in this module. Reading them is optional: explore the ones that match your interests. You don't need them to complete the module, which explains their key ideas. Each entry gives the recommended edition, free options where they exist, and where to buy or borrow it.
- Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. (1942) 1963. The Structure of Behavior. Translated by Alden L. Fisher. Boston: Beacon Press.
- Module focus: Chapter 3 (the three orders: physical, vital, human), at overview level
- Free: None.
- Publisher: Out of print; available through libraries and the used market (Duquesne University Press reprint)
- Free companion: SEP, "Maurice Merleau-Ponty" (Toadvine), §2
- Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. (1945) 2012. Phenomenology of Perception. Translated by Donald A. Landes. London: Routledge.
- Module focus: Module 1: Preface, Introduction, and Part Two selections · Module 2: Part One, chs. 1–3 · Module 3: Part One, chs. 5–6, and Part Two, ch. 4
- Free: None. Landes prints the French pagination in the margin; cite by part and chapter so learners using Smith can follow along.
- Publisher: Routledge
- Free companion: SEP, "Maurice Merleau-Ponty" (Toadvine), §3 · IEP, "Merleau-Ponty, Maurice" (Reynolds)
- Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. (1947) 1964. "The Primacy of Perception and Its Philosophical Consequences." Translated by James M. Edie. In The Primacy of Perception, edited by James M. Edie. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
- Module focus: The 1946 address and the discussion that follows it
- Free: None.
- Publisher: Northwestern University Press
- Free companion: SEP, "Maurice Merleau-Ponty" (Toadvine), §2
- Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. (1948) 2008. The World of Perception. Translated by Oliver Davis. Routledge Classics. London: Routledge.
- Module focus: The full lecture series (short and accessible)
- Free: None.
- Publisher: Routledge