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Merleau-Ponty, the Phenomenological Reduction, Science, and Language as Measurant
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Merleau-Ponty, the Phenomenological Reduction, Science, and Language as Measurant

Douglas Low
University of West Florida Libraries
01/2025

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Abstract

The relationship between perception and language in Merleau-Ponty’s works will here be explored in detail, leading to the conclusion that he integrates them and does not exclusively feature one over the other, as is frequently claimed. We will see that the issue of the relationship between perception and language is connected to the relationship between science and (phenomenological) philosophy, which in turn, is connected to Merleau-Ponty’s use of the phenomenological reduction. While, on the one hand, he seeks to return to lived through perceptual experience (without the projections of linguistic and cultural bias), on the other hand, he realizes that he must use language to do so. His use of the phenomenological reduction suspends the scientific use of language as referencing things as pure objects, as things-in-themselves (basically the reification of its abstract models), and seeks to use the scientific language (or create the appropriate language) to express our lived through perceptual openness upon the world. In the end, even though critical of the sciences, Merleau-Ponty seeks to integrate them with his phenomenological philosophy, along with his integration of perception and language.
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