*Contents* 00:52 THE REAL AND THE IMAGINARY 04:15 Rejection of the intellectual approach to experience 13:00 The fragility of the real 16:55 The human being as an immersed perspective 24:28 REJECTION OF REFLECTION 31:40 The ‘double game’ 35:04 Summary
Regarding the nature of our perspective in the light of conditions, there is a wonderful passage in J. A. Moorehouse’s PhD thesis Marleau-Ponty’s Understanding of Truth, where he is also quoting MP’s Primacy of Perception: “When through the water's thickness I see the tiling at the bottom of a pool I do not see it despite the water and the reflections there; I see through them and because of them.” Similarly, when I look at the world's' thickness, I see being not despite but on account of the sedimentation or truth which is the milieu and the condition of possibility of my seeing of the world. Like the water, this sedimentation of truth does not block my view: it is my view. There is a tree outside my window. I recognize the tree and know it to be a tree on account of my inherence in the world, the sedimentation of previous meanings and, thirdly, the tree presenting itself to me.
Such valuable material in this section. I see the continuity from his Structure of Behavior to this work’s tackling of this topic. Thank you! It’s such a common-sense take, I think, yet so few in philosophy have had such a balanced view that even if reality is not Absolute, reality and truth can still exist, in a very important sense.
This was really good. Thanks Nathan. I think I got a bit confused in the last video when M-P was discussing Reflection. I'd forgotten that he was not a fan and was puzzled by some of the ideas presented. His criticism of Reflection is more what I was expecting and it's very neat, especially his take on how it reduces the individual into a thinking agent detached and isolated with no place for a shared common world with others. Whenever I think of Descartes' "I think therefore I am" I always picture an isolated brain in a vat. As for us being perspectives within this world, a world we inhabit with others. Mind happily blown. Wonderful. BTW I know of someone who years ago had a mental breakdown of sorts. She heard noises in the stairwell outside her flat. I recall saying that that must be very scary and she said no, because she knew she was hallucinating. And just as you stated: the problem was how to stop the hallucinations. Luckily she somehow succeeded.
That is one difficulty I found with MP early on: sometimes while reading it was hard to know what his position actually was. I remember reading _PhP_ and thinking yes, yes, yes, and then getting to a point a few pages later where it became clear that everything I was agreeing to was actually the exact opposite of his position! Yes. Thinking of ourselves as _perspectives_ within being has been tremendously helpful for me, too. Great anecdote. Very nice to have a real-life example to support my (actually MP's) claims.
I have, although not in great depth. I mainly remember it for introducing the concept of the lifeworld. Unfortunately, it was a bit underwhelming to me because Heidegger had already explicated something similar (and much more thoroughly) with his notion of being-in-the-world.
![[MV] A leap of faith...ความเชื่อใจครั้งสุดท้าย (From "Petrichor the series")](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/U1piZH2CNXA/mqdefault.jpg)
*Contents*
00:52 THE REAL AND THE IMAGINARY
04:15 Rejection of the intellectual approach to experience
13:00 The fragility of the real
16:55 The human being as an immersed perspective
24:28 REJECTION OF REFLECTION
31:40 The ‘double game’
35:04 Summary
Regarding the nature of our perspective in the light of conditions, there is a wonderful passage in J. A. Moorehouse’s PhD thesis Marleau-Ponty’s Understanding of Truth, where he is also quoting MP’s Primacy of Perception:
“When through the water's thickness I see the tiling at the bottom of a pool I do not see it despite the water and the reflections there; I see through them and because of them.” Similarly, when I look at the world's' thickness, I see being not despite but on account of the sedimentation or truth which is the milieu and the condition of possibility of my seeing of the world. Like the water, this sedimentation of truth does not block my view: it is my view. There is a tree outside my window. I recognize the tree and know it to be a tree on account of my inherence in the world, the sedimentation of previous meanings and, thirdly, the tree presenting itself to me.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing that great quote.
Such valuable material in this section. I see the continuity from his Structure of Behavior to this work’s tackling of this topic. Thank you! It’s such a common-sense take, I think, yet so few in philosophy have had such a balanced view that even if reality is not Absolute, reality and truth can still exist, in a very important sense.
Thanks. Great point.
This was really good. Thanks Nathan.
I think I got a bit confused in the last video when M-P was discussing Reflection. I'd forgotten that he was not a fan and was puzzled by some of the ideas presented. His criticism of Reflection is more what I was expecting and it's very neat, especially his take on how it reduces the individual into a thinking agent detached and isolated with no place for a shared common world with others.
Whenever I think of Descartes' "I think therefore I am" I always picture an isolated brain in a vat.
As for us being perspectives within this world, a world we inhabit with others. Mind happily blown. Wonderful.
BTW I know of someone who years ago had a mental breakdown of sorts. She heard noises in the stairwell outside her flat. I recall saying that that must be very scary and she said no, because she knew she was hallucinating. And just as you stated: the problem was how to stop the hallucinations. Luckily she somehow succeeded.
That is one difficulty I found with MP early on: sometimes while reading it was hard to know what his position actually was. I remember reading _PhP_ and thinking yes, yes, yes, and then getting to a point a few pages later where it became clear that everything I was agreeing to was actually the exact opposite of his position!
Yes. Thinking of ourselves as _perspectives_ within being has been tremendously helpful for me, too.
Great anecdote. Very nice to have a real-life example to support my (actually MP's) claims.
Have you read Husserl’s Crisis? It is also published by Northwestern University Press
I have, although not in great depth. I mainly remember it for introducing the concept of the lifeworld. Unfortunately, it was a bit underwhelming to me because Heidegger had already explicated something similar (and much more thoroughly) with his notion of being-in-the-world.