Le fondement affectif commun de la sensibilité et de l'entendement. Une convergence entre le dernier Merleau-Ponty et Patočka

Abstract

In the last part of his work, Merleau-Ponty forges a new conceptuality that would account for the plasticity of our linguistic meanings and for their belonging to profound ontological kinships, which he thematizes using the concepts of “rayons” or “dimensions du monde”. In another research context, inspired by Patočka's uncovering of the “fundamental form of all experience”, the fundamental structure of the ego's interpellation by the world could be identified with the “original language” obeyed not only by our understanding and use of speech, but also by our perception. Our aim in what follows will simply be to bring the syllogism to a close by holding these two premises together in a single line of reasoning, and to propose the equivalence between what Merleau-Ponty calls “rayons” or dimensions of the world and the great fields of resemblance (hospitable – inhospitable) thematized by Patočka. In this way, we hope to highlight the common affective origin of perception and understanding in the orientation of the existence interpellated by the world, an orientation according to the great fundamental proto-affective fields (good-evil, hospitable-inhospitable).