Blog #7 Reflection on Eye and Mind Maurice Merleau-Ponty

 One of the readings we had that stood out to me the most was easily this one. Merleau-Ponty’s thoughts echo those of another philosopher, Martin Heidegger, particularly in his work “The Origin of the Work of Art.” Both philosophers contemplate the essence of art and its capacity to disclose truth. While Heidegger discusses art as a setting-into-work of truth, Merleau-Ponty emphasizes the embodied nature of perception and the artist’s role in bringing forth this truth. Heidegger’s focus on the ‘Un concealment’ of being complements Merleau-Ponty’s emphasis on the pre-reflective, bodily engagement with the world. For Merleau-Ponty, the search for beauty as we discuss across this course, is an existential quest that transcends beyond surface level aesthetics. It is the pursuit of reality as it presents itself to us, unmediated by conceptual frameworks. Beauty, then, is not an attribute of objects but an experience of harmonious relations. This beauty is not static but dynamic, an ongoing dialogue between the seer and the seen.  A real-world example of natural beauty that resonates with Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy can be found in the phenomenon of the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. This natural spectacle exemplifies the intertwining of the perceiver with the world; it is an event that cannot be fully captured through photographs or descriptions but must be experienced. 


This idea of having to experience it in order to find it beautiful resonates with me and my personal definition of beauty as I find it easiest to absorb beauty once i become one with the experience. 

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