Phenomenology 2005

Volume 4, Issue Part 2, 2007

Selected Essays from Northern Europe Part 2

Olga Shparaga
Pages 659-683

Versuch einer kritischen Phänomenologie
Vom produzierten Körper (Foucault) zum sich konstituierenden Leib (Merleau-Ponty) und zurück

The article explores a formal similarity between two investigations of human body presented by M. Merleau-Ponty and M. Foucault. Considering human body in its relation to space, time and bodily scheme they come to oppositely different conclusions. While Foucault stresses that human body is always in process of production and alienation, Merleau-Ponty argues that it opens the way to self-understanding. In the article I am performing a shift from the Foucauldian analysis to that of Merleau-Ponty and back in order to present a variety of subjects – counter-subject, co-subject, transitive subject – which allows understanding human being beyond metaphysical and social reductionism.