Document Type

Honors Thesis

Major

Philosophy, French

Advisor(s)

Kirsten Jacobson, Frédéric Rondeau

Committee Members

Donald Beith, Robert Glover, Alejandro Strong

Graduation Year

May 2020

Publication Date

Spring 5-2020

Abstract

In 2016, a collection of previously unreleased audio-recorded interviews and dialogues with phenomenological philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty were transcribed and published in French in Entretiens avec Georges Charbonnier: et autres dialogues, 1946-1959. Here, to my knowledge, I have translated three of those interviews into English for the very first time. Given that these interviews were recorded for broadcast to the general public, they provide an accessible entry point into some of the thoughts of Merleau-Ponty. The first interview that I have translated is Merleau-Ponty explaining his research in Philosophy. The second interview discusses Husserl, the concept of lived experience, and the discipline of phenomenology. The third interview is about praxis and how philosophy is engaged in the world. Following the three interviews is an original essay expanding upon some of the concepts introduced in the interviews, especially those in conversation with Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception.

Share