Experience begins embedded in the world, not isolated from it
Evidence
In general, Merleau-Ponty thinks human experience only makes sense if we abandon philosophy’s time-honoured habit of starting with a solitary, capsule-like, immobile adult self, isolated from its body and world, which must then be connected up again — adding each element around it as though adding clothing to a doll. Instead, for him, we slide from the womb to the birth canal to an equally close and total immersion in the world. That immersion continues as long as we live, although we may also cultivate the art of partially withdrawing from time to time when we want to think or daydream. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 738
Categorization
- DEFINE: Clarifies Merleau-Ponty’s core rejection of the Cartesian solitary-self starting point for philosophy.
- XREF: Parallels Heidegger’s being-in-the-world and the emphasis on embodiment that distinguishes phenomenology from Cartesianism. — connects to: Even in experiments, perception is world-directed, not inner-sensation centered.; Encountering the Other reveals the for-itself having an outside and being embedded in being; Consciousness intertwines with the world like crossed hands — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 742 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Encountering the Other reveals the for-itself having an outside and being embedded in being
#expands(0.90) - Consciousness intertwines with the world like crossed hands
#corroborates(0.85) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 742 - Experience arrives pre-charged with meaning rather than as raw sense data
#corroborates(0.85) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 490 - Consciousness and world are simultaneous in authentic reflection.
#expands(0.80) — Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 235