The Logos of the Sensible World (WEB PDF) von John Sallis

This volume of the collected writings of John Sallis presents a two-semester lecture course on Maurice Merleau-Ponty given at Duquesne University from 1970 to 1971. Devoted primarily to a close reading of the French philosopher's magnum opus, Phenomenology of Perception, the course begins with a detailed analysis of The Structure of Behavior.

This volume of the collected writings of John Sallis presents a two-semester lecture course on Maurice Merleau-Ponty given at Duquesne University from 1970 to 1971. Devoted primarily to a close reading of the French philosopher's magnum opus,Phenomenology of Perception, the course begins with a detailed analysis ofThe Structure of Behavior. The central topics considered in the lectures include the functions of the phenomenological body; beyond realism and idealism; the structures of the lived world; spatiality, temporality, language, sexuality; and perception and knowledge. Sallis illuminates Merleau-Ponty's first two works and offers a thread to follow through developments in his later essays. Merleau-Ponty's notion of the primacy of perception and his claim that "the end of a philosophy is the account of its beginning" are woven throughout the lectures. For Sallis's part, these lectures are foundational for his extended engagement with Merleau-Ponty'sThe Visible and the Invisible, which was published in Sallis'sPhenomenology and the Return to Beginnings.

John Sallis is Frederick J. Adelmann Professor of Philosophy at Boston College. He is author of more than 20 books, includingLight Traces,The Return of Nature, andThe Figure of Nature.

Richard Rojcewicz is Scholar-in-Residence in the Philosophy Department at Duquesne University, the translator of several works by Martin Heidegger, and author ofThe Gods and Technology: A Reading of Heidegger.