Acta Universitatis Carolinae Kinanthropologica (AUC Kinanthropologica) is an international peer reviewed journal for the publication of research outcomes in the humanities, the social sciences and the natural sciences, as applied to kinathropology. It is a multidisciplinary journal accepting only original unpublished articles in English in the various sub-disciplines and related fields of kinanthropology, such as Anthropology, Anthropomotorics, Sports Pedagogy, Sociology of Sport, Philosophy of Sport, History of Sport, Physiology of Sport And Exercise, Physical Education, Applied Physical Education, Physiotherapy, Human Biomechanics, Psychology of Sport, Sports Training and Coaching, Sport Management, etc. The journal also welcomes interdisciplinary articles. The journal also includes reports of relevant activities and reviews of relevant publications.
The journal is abstracted and indexed by CNKI, DOAJ, EBSCO, ERIH PLUS, SPOLIT, SPORTDiscus, and Ulrichsweb.
AUC KINANTHROPOLOGICA, Vol 52 No 2 (2016), 26–40
Merleau-Ponty on embodied subjectivity from the perspective of subject-object circularity
Jan Halák
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14712/23366052.2016.9
published online: 22. 12. 2016
abstract
The phenomenological point of view of the body is usually appreciated for having introduced the notion of the ‘lived’ body. We cannot merely analyze and explain the body as one of the elements of the world of objects. We must also describe it, for example, as the center of our perspective on the world, the place where our sensing is ‘localized’, the agens which directly executes our intentions. However, in Husserl, the idea of the body as lived primarily complements his objectivism: the body (Leib) is an objective and mental reality, a ‘double unity’, as he writes. In contrast, Merleau-Ponty’s later considerations of the body in Phenomenology of Perception tend to the idea of a circular relationship between the objective and subjective dimensions of the body – between the objective and the lived. One of the means to overcome the idea of the body as a site of the correlation between two opposite and complementary realms is, for Merleau-Ponty, the philosophical interpretation of an early neurological notion of ‘body schema’. Body schema is neither an idea nor a physiological-physical fact, it is rather a practical diagram of our relationships with the world, an action-based norm in reference to which things make sense. In the recently published preparatory notes for his 1953 courses, Merleau-Ponty dedicates much effort to further developing the notion of body schema, and interprets fresh sources that he did not use in Phenomenology of Perception. Notably, he studies various possibilities of how this practical ‘diagram’ can be de-differentiated (pathology) or further refined (cognitive and cultural superstructures, symbolic systems), which shows the fundamentally dynamic unity of the body. This paper summarizes the basic elements of Merleau-Ponty’s 1953 renewed philosophical interpretation of the notion of body schema, while contrasting it to the more traditional understanding of the body in phenomenology and in recent philosophical texts dealing with body schema.
keywords: Merleau-Ponty; Husserl; Gallagher; subjectivity; human body; body image; body schema; perception
references (39)
1. Carman, T. (1999). The Body in Husserl and Merleau-Ponty. Philosophical Topics, 27(2), 205–226. CrossRef
2. Descartes, R. (2008). Meditations on First Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3. Dreyfus, H. (1992). What Computers Still Can't Do. Cambridge and London: MIT Press.
4. Gallagher, S. (1986). Body image and body schema: A Conceptual Clarification. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 7(4), 541–554.
5. Gallagher, S. (1995). Body schema and Intentionality. In: J. L. Bermudez, A. J. Marcel, & N. M. Eilan (Eds.), The Body and the Self (pp. 225–244). MIT Press. PubMed
6. Gallagher, S. (2005a). How the body shapes the mind. Oxford: Clarendon Press. CrossRef
7. Gallagher, S. (2005b). Dynamic models of body schematic processes. In: H. De Preester & V. Knockaert (Eds.), Body Image and Body Schema. Interdisciplinary perspectives on the body (pp. 233–250). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. CrossRef PubMed
8. Gallagher, S. (2009). Body image/body schema. In: T. Bayne, A. Cleeremans, & P. Wilken (Eds.), Oxford Companion to Consciousness (pp. 117–119). Oxford: Oxford University Press. PubMed PubMed Central
9. Gallagher, S., & Cole, J. (1995). Body Schema and Body Image in a Deafferented Subject. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 16(4), 369–390. PubMed Central
10. Gallagher, S., & Zahavi, D. (2008). The Phenomenological Mind. An Introduction to Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science. London and New York: Routledge. PubMed Central
11. Gelb, A., & Goldstein, K. (1920). Über den Einfluß des vollständigen Verlustes des optischen Vorstellungsvermögens auf das tactile Erkennen. Psychologische Analyse hirnpathologischer Fälle auf Grund von Untersuchungen Hirnverletzer, 1 (pp. 157–250). Leipzig: J. A. Barth. PubMed Central
12. Halák, J. (2014). Merleau-Pontyho ontologická interpretace Husserlova pojetí těla jako 'dvojité jednoty'. [Merleau-Ponty's ontological interpretation of Husserl's conception of the body as a 'double unity'.] Filosofický časopis, 62(3), 339–354. PubMed Central
13. Head, H. (1920). Studies in Neurology, 2. London: Oxford University Press. PubMed Central
14. Head, H., & Holmes, G. (1911–1912). Sensory Disturbances from Cerebral Lesions. Brain, 34, 102–254. CrossRef PubMed Central
15. Husserl, E. (1971). Husserliana 5. Ideen III. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. PubMed Central
16. Husserl, E. (1973). Husserliana 16. Ding und Raum. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff. CrossRef PubMed Central
17. Husserl, E. (1989). Husserliana 3. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy: Second Book Studies in the Phenomenology of Constitution. The Hague: Springer. CrossRef PubMed Central
18. Lhermitte, J. (1939). L'image de notre corps. Paris: Nouvelle Revue Critique. PubMed Central
19. Merleau-Ponty, M. (1963). Structure of behavior. Boston: Beacon Press. PubMed Central
20. Merleau-Ponty, M. (1964). The Philosopher and His Shadow. Signs (pp. 159–181). Evanston: Northwestern University Press. PubMed Central
21. Merleau-Ponty, M. (1968a). Résumé de cours. Paris: Gallimard. PubMed Central
22. Merleau-Ponty, M. (1968b). The Visible and the Invisible. Evanston: Northwestern University Press. PubMed Central
23. Merleau-Ponty, M. (1995). La Nature. Notes. Cours du Collège de France. Paris: Seuil. PubMed Central
24. Merleau-Ponty, M. (1996). Notes de cours au Collège de France 1958–1959 et 1960–1961. Paris: Gallimard. PubMed Central
25. Merleau-Ponty, M. (2000). Parcours deux. Paris: Verdier. PubMed Central
26. Merleau-Ponty, M. (2011). Le monde sensible et le monde de l'expression. Grenoble: MetissPress. PubMed Central
27. Merleau-Ponty, M. (2012). Phenomenology of Perception. London: Routledge. PubMed Central
28. Michotte, A. (1954). Perception de la causalité. Louvain: P.U.L./Vrin. PubMed Central
29. Paillard, J. (1991). Knowing where and knowing how to get there. In: J. Paillard (Ed.), Brain and Space (pp. 461–481). Oxford: Oxford University Press. PubMed Central
30. Paillard, J. (1999). Body Schema and Body Image: A Double Dissociation in Deafferented Patients. In: G. N. Gantchev, S. Mori, & J. Massion (Eds.), Motor Control, Today and Tomorrow, 197–214. PubMed Central
31. Ryle, G. (2009). The Concept of Mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. PubMed PubMed Central
32. Saint-Aubert, E. de (2011). Conscience et expression. Avant-propos. In: M. Merleau-Ponty, Le monde sensible et le monde de l'expression (pp. 7–38). Grenoble: MetissPress. PubMed Central
33. Schilder, P. (1923). Das Körperschema: Ein Beitrag zur Lehre vom Bewusstsein des Eigenen Körpers. Berlin: Springer. CrossRef PubMed Central
34. Schilder, P. (1950). The Image and Appearance of the Human Body: Studies in the Constructive Energies of the Psyche. London: Routledge. PubMed Central
35. Simondon, G. (2006). Cours sur la Perception (1964–1965). Paris: Editions de la Transparence. PubMed Central
36. Strawson, G. (1997). The self. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 4(5/6), 405–428. PubMed Central
37. Uexkül, J. von (1957). A Stroll Through the Worlds of Animals and Men: A Picture Book of Invisible Worlds, Instinctive Behavior: The Development of a Modern Concept (pp. 5–80). New York: International Universities Press. PubMed Central
38. Van Breda, H. L. (1962). Maurice Merleau-Ponty et les Archives-Husserl à Louvain. Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, 67(4), 410–443. PubMed Central
39. Wertheimer, M. (1912). Experimentelle Studien über das Sehen von Bewegung. Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 61, 161–165. PubMed Central
Merleau-Ponty on embodied subjectivity from the perspective of subject-object circularity is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
157 x 230 mm
periodicity: 2 x per year
print price: 190 czk
ISSN: 1212-1428
E-ISSN: 2336-6052
