Merleau-Ponty Maurice - The Barbarian Principle: Merleau-Ponty, Schelling, and the Question of Nature

The Barbarian Principle

SUNY series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy

Dennis J. Schmidt, editor

The Barbarian Principle

Merleau-Ponty, Schelling,
and the Question of Nature

Edited by

Jason M. Wirth

with

Patrick Burke

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

2013 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The barbarian principle : Merleau-Ponty, Schelling, and the question of nature / edited by Jason M. Wirth with Patrick Burke.

pages cm. (SUNY series in contemporary continental philosophy)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Summary: Essays explore a rich intersection between phenomenology and idealism with contemporary relevanceProvided by publisher.

ISBN 978-1-4384-4847-3 (alk. paper)

1. Philosophy of nature. 2. Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, 19081961. 3. Schelling, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von, 17751854. I. Wirth, Jason M., 1963 editor of compilation.

BD581.B355 2013

113dc23

2012047515

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Elizabeth Bledsoe Sikes,
the principle in Barbarian Principle

Part I
Orientations

CHAPTER ONE
The Reawakening of the Barbarian Principle

CHAPTER TWO
Prefatory Meditations

Part II
Schelling and the Question of Nature

CHAPTER THREE
Unfolding the Hidden Logos (Or: Much Ado about Nothing)

CHAPTER FOUR
Schelling on Platos Timaeus

CHAPTER FIVE
On the Relation Between Nature and History in Schellings Freedom Essay and Spinozas Theologico-Political Treatise

CHAPTER SIX
Eternal Times: Schelling on Creation, Contemporaneity, and the Unconscious

Part III
Merleau-Ponty and Schelling in Conversation

CHAPTER SEVEN
tre sauvage and the Barbarian Principle: Merleau-Pontys Reading of Schelling

CHAPTER EIGHT
tre brut or Nature: Merleau-Ponty Surveys Schelling

CHAPTER NINE
Freedom as the Experience of Nature: Schelling and Merleau-Ponty on the Open Space in Nature

CHAPTER TEN
Finding the Bodys Place in Nature: Merleau-Ponty on Schellings Phenomenology of Pre-Reflective Being

CHAPTER ELEVEN
Nature and Self-Knowledge: On Schellings Ambiguous Role in Merleau-Pontys The Concept of Nature

CHAPTER TWELVE
Reading the Barbarous Source: Merleau-Pontys Structural History and Schelling

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Natures Inside

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Listening for the Voice of the Light: Mythical Time through the Musical Idea

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The Eye and the Spirit of Nature: Some Reflections on Merleau-Pontys Reading of Schelling Concerning the Relationship between Art and Nature

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The Art of Nature: On the Agony of the Will in Schelling and Merleau-Ponty

We would like to raise a glass of Brunello in thanks to our colleagues and friends at both Seattle University and Gonzaga University in Florence for their ongoing support. We also would like to express our gratitude to Chiasmi International where an earlier version of Robert Valliers essay appeared as tre Sauvage and the Barbaric Principle: Merleau-Pontys Reading of Schelling (Chiasmi International, vol. 2 [2000], 83107). Finally, at a time of unprecedented global rage against our earth, we would like to offer this volume as a small and properly barbarian contribution to what Gary Snyder felicitously dubbed a practice of the wild.

Frequently cited works by Merleau-Ponty and Schelling adhere to the following sigla. Less frequently used editions by these authors, as well as all other works by other authors, are cited in the respective endnotes.

French citations

English translation citations