Thinking Through Merleau-Ponty's Aesthetics: The Retrieval of the Beautiful

FAIN: FT-53462-05

Galen A. Johnson
University of Rhode Island (Kingston, RI 02881-1967)

In spite of the originality of the aesthetic ideas of French philosopher, Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961), we still lack a comprehensive study of his aesthetics. My project is to fill that need by completing a book with the working title, THINKING THROUGH MERLEAU-PONTY'S AESTHETICS: THE RETRIEVAL OF THE BEAUTIFUL. In Part One, the philosopher’s leading aesthetic ideas in "Eye and Mind" will be analyzed as they developed from Merleau-Ponty's studies of Leonardo, Cezanne, Klee, and Rodin. Part Two will extend his aesthetic ideas toward abstract expressionism and the contemporary debate regarding the eclipse and retrieval of the beautiful.