Structure and subjectivity in the latest Merleau-Ponty

Abstract

The text approaches some central notions in the studies Merleau-Ponty carried out in his courses in the Collège de France between the years of 1954 and 1960. It deals with the passage from animality to the human body and, as important as stressing the differences between the two, it tries to show their Ineinander, one into the other, or a common belonging. Then, it highlights the notions of institution and of unconscious: with the first the philosopher learns how to overcome the limits of the notion of consciousness; with the latter the author both distinguishes his notion from Lévi-Strauss’ and intensifies the debate with freudism.