Adam Loughnane (Philosophy, UCC)
Merleau-Ponty: Ecstasis, Trust and Artistic Practices as Philosophic Practices
In his writings on painting, Maurice Merleau-Ponty offers an account of artistic activity where perception functions in an ecstatic relation through which new types of vision and action are made possible. Placing his reflections on artistic practice in a philosophic context, Merleau-Ponty allows us to compare these artistic practices with the academic/philosophic practices we rely on to engage phenomenological works such as his. The ways of seeing and acting enabled in artistic activity, as Merleau-Ponty understands them, the engagement with visibility and invisibility and the attunement afforded between body and world, challenge the deeply ingrained notions of perception, doubt and understanding upon which our philosophic practices are based. If there is value in thinking with Merleau-Ponty and experimenting with his concepts and philosophy, can we do so authentically while maintaining philosophic practices which are based on the concepts he seeks to replace? If not, can the artistic practices themselves supplement or replace aspects of our philosophic practices?
