History and the origin of meaning

pp. 40-63

in: William Hamrick, An existential phenomenology of law, Berlin, Springer, 1987

Abstract

Philosophy, in Merleau-Ponty's view, always comprises a return "to an intersubjectivity which, ever more closely, binds us to the whole of history" (S 141). Accordingly, history is a subject with which Merleau-Ponty is concerned again and again throughout his works, from the earliest up to the very last writings. Across these texts, he is concerned to argue that history provides intersubjectivity with temporal depth by (i) furnishing a dimension of historicity to an individual consciousness, by (ii) anchoring our incarnate freedom in an established order of sedimented meanings, and finally by (iii) elaborating our relationships with others in the creation of truth, meaning, and rationality.