ABSTRACT
In his Modern French Philosophy, Vincent Descombes enumerates a number of criticisms of Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy from the point of view of the structuralist and postmodernist philosophies that succeed it. While Modern French Philosophy was published some time ago, originally in French in 1979 and in English in 1980, it has been reprinted over ten times (until 1998), with Google Scholar listing (to date) almost seven hundred citations. While it cannot be considered a current text, the book remains significant for the following reasons. First, it helped articulate, and circulate, the common criticisms of Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy that were then being formed in France and elsewhere in the years immediately following his death. And secondly, since the book has been cited hundreds of times since its publication, it has contributed to the solidification of what has come to be regarded as common criticisms of Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy. The intent of this chapter 1 is to evaluate and defend Merleau-Ponty against these criticisms.
