Writing, Embodiment, Deferral : Merleau-Ponty and Derrida on The Origin of Geometry
Journal
Philosophy Today
ISSN
0031-8256
ISSN-Digital
2329-8596
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2014-03-01
Author(s)
Abstract
A simplistic image of twentieth century French philosophy sees Merleau-Ponty's death in 1961 as the line that divides two irreconcilable moments in its history: existentialism and phenomenology, on the one hand, and structuralism on the other. The structuralist generation claimed to recapture the dimension of objectivity and impersonality, which the previous generation was supposedly incapable of. As a matter of fact, in 1962, Derrida's edition of Husserl's The Origin of Geometry was taken to be a turning point that announced the structuralist revolution by introducing a reflection on the historicity and the materiality of impersonal idealities. And yet, the 1998 publication of Merleau-Ponty's notes from his Colle?ge de France lecture course on the same topic make manifest that he was already taking phenomenology in another direction. His 1959 reading of The Origin of Geometry shows how unexpectedly close the early Derrida is to the late Merleau-Ponty. By identifying the tension between archaeology and teleology as the basic problem of Husserlian phenomenology, Merleau-Ponty and Derrida each disclose the fundamental importance of history and of writing. Comparing the two readings in their specific context not only brings about a more complex picture of the intellectual debates of the time, but also shows how, with Merleau-Ponty's interpretation of The Origin of Geometry, Derrida's "diffe?rance" predates itself and receives another genealogy.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
HSG Profile Area
SHSS - Kulturen, Institutionen, Maerkte (KIM)
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
DePaul University
Publisher place
Celina, Ohio
Volume
58
Number
2
Start page
219
End page
239
Pages
21
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
229700