Exploring Perception in Philosophy and Modern Art: Introduction to Spatial Perception from Merleau-Ponty's Perspective

Abstract

The innovation of Merleau-Ponty is considering the body as existence or ontology. He admitted that a mechanical psychologist could not explain our experience of the body. Thought and body are inseparable. Also, uncertainty, or as Merleau-Ponty says, bouncing, is a feature of true philosophy. Merleau-Ponty knew that he was living in a period in which two forms of absolutism overshadowed everything: absolute Christianity and absolute Marxism. He introduced perception to establish a connection between consciousness and objectivity, from the contrasting perspectives of Empiricism and Rationalism. Merleau-Ponty follows Cezanne in rejecting dualism and its transformation into sight and action, emphasizing the integration of the soul and body. The soul is not separate from the body, and sight is related to thoughts; therefore, beliefs are rooted in a person's existence. Another innovation of Merleau-Ponty is the presentation of the role of the body in emotional perception. Merleau-Ponty opposes any idea that seeks to separate the soul from the body; he believes in a unified subject or Gestalt, rather than an isolated emotion or consciousness. Phenomenology, based on Merleau-Ponty's annotations, is a philosophical method. It aims to extract the hypotheses that humans make about themselves and their world, based on scientific and practical purposes, and to experience them in a perceptual world. Merleau-Ponty follows Hegel in believing that time rises in human beings. Although humans exist in the world, they live in a continuum of time, moving towards the future while reflecting on their past experiences and possessions. The nature of this research is explanatory; moreover, given the holistic subject, the primary approach is operative.