The Logos of the Living World: Merleau-Ponty, Animals, and Language

摘要

The aim of this text is to introduce the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty to current work in ecocriticism and to direct humanities studies in general toward engaging scientific research with real animals when considering 'the animal question'. Merleau-Ponty's philosophy stands as a good theoretical framework for such a project because, as Westling points out. he attempted to bridge the gap between the humanities and the hard sciences close to sixty years ago. From the numerous psychological and psychiatric studies incorporated into the Phenomenology of Perception to the unique inclusion of natural history in the Nature lectures given at the College de France towards the end of his life. Merleau-Ponty always connected his philosophical insights with contemporary scientific studies and interdisciplinary research. This is a major reason why his philosophical work has been able to influence disciplines as diverse as nursing studies and psychological theory, environmental research and museum studies. A major hindrance to incorporating Merleau-Ponty's philosophy into various disciplines is articulating the very difficult language he adopts in his later work. Terms like flesh, chiasm, intertwining and reversibility all need to be interpreted and explained in language that allows for a broad understanding of his thought. This is a difficult, yet necessary, task for anyone trying to connect Merleau-Ponty's work with a non-philosophical discipline. Although Westling is not providing a systematic analysis of Merleau-Ponty's work, more could certainly be done in her text to help bridge this linguistic gap. Westling has a great opportunity to develop a new vocabulary for Merleau-Ponty :s philosophy that could be broadly applicable to the sciences. While Westling does a remarkable job of demonstrating Merleau-Ponty's usefulness for humanities research that engages scientific studies, the adoption of Merleau-Ponty's language fails to establish the accessibility needed for scientists to engage with Merleau-Ponty. That is not to say that this work is not worth reading. In fact it is. The text as a whole provides a nice introduction to the work of Merleau-Ponty, to the current ecocritical discourse regarding animals, and the ongoing scientific research that studies real animals.