Merleau-Ponty and Nishida

Adam Loughnane is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at University College Cork, Ireland.

"Merleau-Ponty and Nishida is an impressive achievement. The lucidity of Adam Loughnane's writing mirrors the author's astonishing ability to map the connections and disconnections of two complex philosophical systems. His scholarship is outstanding. Follow behind him along the path and you will be richly rewarded." — Culture and Dialogue"Loughnane illuminates the ambiguous, chiasmatic, and dynamic relationality between the body and the world, providing concrete examples from art history East and West. He not only skillfully explains Nishida's and Merleau-Ponty's ontological notions, but also puts their philosophy to the test of art works, proving that their thinking reveals an important truth of art." — Takeshi Kimoto, Chukyo University

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Faith, Flesh, and Basho Nishida between Religion and PhilosophyMerleau-Ponty between Philosophy and ReligionArtistic Expression East and WestAmbiguity, Negation, and Faith1. Ontology, Ambiguity, and NegationMotor-Perceptual Fabric: Faith and TransitivityNishida and PhenomenologySubstance and Relation: Separation and Non-ObstructionNishida's "Absolute Negation"Negation: Chiasm, "Continuity of Discontinuity"Merleau-Ponty Counter Sartre's Nullite Absolue Nishida: "Absolute Negation" and the "I-Thou" RelationRepresentation and Perceptual Negation: From Non-Subject to Non-Object2. Perceptual Fabric: Space, Time, and Light Vision and Multi-Perspectivalism: Seeing-SeenRepresentation, Ocularcentrism, and Multi-Perspectivalism Multi-Perspectival Perception The Three Graces Guo Xi: Angle of Totality "Dragon Veins": The Visible and Invisible in Daoism Merleau-Ponty: Multi-Perspectivalism and "Depth" Time and Negation I: Ecstatic Temporality Nishida: "Eternal Now" and "Internal-qua-External Perception" Skin and Bones in Rodin and Taiga Multi-perspectivalism Creation and Obstruction The Expanded Body: Vision and TouchTool as Non-Objective Bodily Extension Space: Distance and Proximity "Distanceless Distance" Light, Tools, and the Aesthetics of Transparent Mediality Molyneux's Problem: Obstruction and Light Nishida: Full Reversibility and Expression Everything Touching or Nothing at All 3. Motor-Perceptual Fabric: Time and Motion Sesshū Tōyō: Zen, Vision, and MotionCézanne's "Germinations" with the LandscapeTime: From Perception to Motor-PerceptionMotion: Volitional Character of the WorldActivity-Passivity Ontologies of Expression Motor-Background: "Solicitations" and "Unity of Act and Act" Body and Expression in TimeNishida's "Historical Body" and "Historical World" Time and Negation II: "Deep Present" and "Absolute Present"From Multi-Perspectival to Multi-Volitional "Optimal Grip" and the Force of Tradition New Art: Creating the VisibleCopy and Original "New Art": Objectivity and Faith Tradition as Historical-Volitional Ecstasis New Solicitations, New Continuity of Act, and Act From Creating the Conditions of Visibility to Creating the Conditions of Motor-VisibilityVision as Motion Motion as Vision "Acting-Intuition" Color(lessness) and Motion(lessness) Motor-Chromaticity The Color of Negation 4. Expression as "Motor-Perceptual Faith" "Seeing without a Seer" and Moving without a MoverMotor-Perceptual "Blind Spot" as Dynamic Obstruction Nishida: "Seeing Without a Seer" Mirroring, Mapping, and Seeing History of Motor-VisibilityKlee: "End-Forms" and "Formative Forces" The Invisibility of the Self as "Style" and the Temporality of Risk Coherent Deformation and the Force of Tradition Overcoming Reflection, Embracing RiskHolography, Infinity, and Risk Reflection and Faith Spontaneity and Non-Willing The Materiality of Spontaneous Expression: Bernard Leach and Pottery as Throwing-Thrown The Fallacy of Motor-Perceptual Neutrality and Uni-Directional Expression Spontaneity and the Temporality of RiskThe Limits of Reflection and Doubt: The Pre-Reflective and the Necessity of Faith Faith, Negation, and Volition in the Pre-ReflectiveConclusion: Motor-Perceptual Faith between Philosophy, Religion, and ArtSecularizing the Spiritual: Nishida's "Inverse Polarity" and "Interexpression" Spiritualizing the Secular: Merleau-Ponty and "Anatheism" Works Cited and BibliographyIndex