Prof. Duane H. Davis, University of North Carolina-Ashville: Reading Merleau-Ponty’s Preface to Phenomenology of Perception Tod

Centre for Copenhagen Luther Studies

Prof. Duane H. Davis, University of North Carolina-Ashville: Reading Merleau-Ponty’s Preface to Phenomenology of Perception Today (i samarbejde med Center for Paradoksstudier)

Merleau-Ponty’s famous Preface begins by posing the question, “What is phenomenology?” Since he wrote these words some fifty years after Husserl inaugurated the phenomenological movement, one may understand his question to be similar to our own: what is phenomenology today? Since Merleau-Ponty’s Preface is the debut of his own new style and direction of phenomenological inquiry, the question can be posed anew: what is Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology today? What relevance and promise does his unique approach hold today? In order to address such questions, we shall follow Merleau-Ponty’s strategy of focusing upon his radical appropriation of three terms central to phenomenology: reduction, essence, and intentionality. We shall also consider this anthemic Preface alongside Merleau-Ponty’s Causeries [translated as The World of Perception]—a series of radio lectures from 1948. These lectures were intended for a general audience. Unlike the Preface, they do not presuppose a sophisticated knowledge of the phenomenological movement. These lectures will assist us in our effort to reevaluate Merleau-Ponty’s unique style of phenomenology today.

Afternoon-seminar (we speak English, when the title is in English, if it is in Danish, the paper is in Danish and the language of the seminar is mixed)

All seminars can be followed over zoom: https://ucph-ku.zoom.us/j/7217059883?pwd=eUhEeENrSFRjNDFiZHNsMjQwOTJxUT09