ABSTRACT
Merleau-Ponty argues that his phenomenology of language overcomes a number of dualisms in philosophy. As we have seen, he thinks of the body as ‘a unity distinct from that of the scientific object’ (PPT, 174).1
The human person is essentially an expressive being and the use of language is just one part of this expression. He hopes that this holistic view will enable him to dispense with ‘the traditional subject-object dichotomy’ (PPT, 174)2 and provide a phenomenological understanding of how language functions that is not behaviourist, empiricist, or rationalist.
