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hudikatz's review against another edition
5.0
May be the hardest book I've ever read, barely understood it. Its mostly about Kant and Hegel, so no kidding. Some fire though:
"Insofar as, when I reflect on the essence of subjectivity, I find it bound up with that of the body and that of the world, this is because my existence as subjectivity is merely one with my existence as a body and with the existence of the world, and because the subject that I am, when taken concretely, is inseparable from this body and this world. The ontological world and body which we find at the core of the subject are not the world or body as idea, but on the one hand the world itself contracted into a comprehensive grasp, and on the other the body itself as a knowing-body. But, it will be asked, if the unity of the world is not based on that of consciousness, and if the world is not the outcome of a constituting effort, how does it come about that appearances accord with each other and group themselves together into things, ideas and truths? And why do our random thoughts, the events of our life and those of collective history, at least at certain times assume common significance and direction, and allow themselves to be subsumed under one idea? Why does my life succeed in drawing itself together in order to project itself in words, intentions and acts? This is the problem of rationality…We are in the world, which means that things take shape, an immense individual asserts itself, each existence is self-comprehensive and comprehensive of the rest. All that has to be done is to recognize these phenomena which are the ground of all our certainties. The belief in an absolute mind, or in a world in itself detached from us is no more than a rationalization of this primordial faith.” MMP 475
"Insofar as, when I reflect on the essence of subjectivity, I find it bound up with that of the body and that of the world, this is because my existence as subjectivity is merely one with my existence as a body and with the existence of the world, and because the subject that I am, when taken concretely, is inseparable from this body and this world. The ontological world and body which we find at the core of the subject are not the world or body as idea, but on the one hand the world itself contracted into a comprehensive grasp, and on the other the body itself as a knowing-body. But, it will be asked, if the unity of the world is not based on that of consciousness, and if the world is not the outcome of a constituting effort, how does it come about that appearances accord with each other and group themselves together into things, ideas and truths? And why do our random thoughts, the events of our life and those of collective history, at least at certain times assume common significance and direction, and allow themselves to be subsumed under one idea? Why does my life succeed in drawing itself together in order to project itself in words, intentions and acts? This is the problem of rationality…We are in the world, which means that things take shape, an immense individual asserts itself, each existence is self-comprehensive and comprehensive of the rest. All that has to be done is to recognize these phenomena which are the ground of all our certainties. The belief in an absolute mind, or in a world in itself detached from us is no more than a rationalization of this primordial faith.” MMP 475
ralowe's review against another edition
5.0
the ends is the means, "your abode is your act itself. your act is you," on the last page in an excerpt from the wwii memoir of antoine de saint-exupery. i mean i guess i feel better with that notion. kinda. wahhh. so doing is one with undoing: how can such a coexistent notion resist complacency? not trying to hate on hippies. especially after here having them afford me such fertile ground for tranquility. such blissful writing here. up the hippie talk, definitely, even with the potentially psychogenic prospect of a beautified and beatified struggle. hamster wheel of joy. an activist friend of a different generation told me that she remembered people being really into this book. she might have said hippies. i don't know if the train of thought along a track informed by these recent reading selections has been subliminally placing a regimen in my head contributing to my current physical appearance (i.e. long hair), although her sharing this rumination would certainly confirm it. something to think about is whether the premises of the cogito that render it vulnerable to solipsism (e.g. anesthecized complacent bliss) may be extended to merleau-ponty's idea of the relation between the subject and the world, and if constitution is similarly insubstantial fantasy. merleau-ponty would counter that certainty resides in the act of doing: the certitude of the seen is insured through sight itself. there is no opportunity of abstraction as either sense or sensation, there is purely you and the phenomenon, the medium or rather site of that contact is the body itself. it seems like phenomenology is about the moment when the subject encounters the object. that's what appeared to be the basic premise of the hegel i read. the body is the site of the encounter between expression and meaning. i suppose that for now this will do for agency.
arthurian's review against another edition
i have both read this book way too many times and not from start to finish in theory
spacestationtrustfund's review against another edition
3.0
« C'est dans l'épreuve que je fais d'un corps explorateur voué aux choses et au monde, d'un sensible qui m'investit jusqu'au plus individuel de moi-même et m'attire aussitôt de la qualité à l'espace, de l'espace à la chose et de la chose à l'horizon des choses, c'est-à-dire à un monde déjà là, que se noue ma relation avec l'être. »
breadandmushrooms's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
noahb101's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely stunning! This has easily become my favorite philosophical text - period. Beautiful in insight, wide in its scope and mesmerizing in its conclusions!