Ted Toadvine

Charles S. Brown

Explores how continental philosophy can inform environmental ethics.

Back to the Earth Itself

Eco-Phenomenology

In this book, Toadvine demonstrates how Maurice Merleau-Ponty s phenomenology has a special power to address such a crisisa philosophical power far better suited to the questions than other modern approaches, with their over-reliance on assumptions drawn from the natural sciences."

Merleau-Ponty’s Philosophy of Nature

Leading environmental thinkers investigate the complexities of boundary formation and negotiation at the heart of environmental problems.

Boundary Explorations in Ecological Theory and Practice

Nature's Edge

Lester Embree

Merleau-Ponty's Reading of Husserl explores the relationship between two of the greatest thinkers of the twentieth century: Edmund Husserl, the father of modern phenomenology, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, considered by many to be his greatest philosophical heir. While Merleau-Ponty's influence on the dissemination and reception of Husserl's thought is indisputable, unresolved questions remain concerning the philosophical projects of these two thinkers: Does phenomenology first reach its true potential in Merleau-Ponty's hands, guided by his appreciation of the tacit goals underlying Husserl's philosophical project? Or is Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology a creative but ultimately misdirected appropriation of Husserl's work? In this volume, the first devoted to a comparison of the work of these two philosophers, ten leading scholars draw on the latest research and newly available manuscripts to offer novel insights into Merleau-Ponty's reading of Husserl - with implications for our understanding of phenomenology's significance, its method, and the future of philosophy.

Merleau-Ponty's Reading of Husserl

In our time, Ted Toadvine observes, the philosophical question of nature is almost entirely forgotten— obscured in part by a myopic focus on solving "environmental problems" without asking how these problems are framed. But an "environmental crisis," existing as it does in the human world of value and significance, is at heart a philosophical crisis. In this book, Toadvine demonstrates how Maurice Merleau-Ponty’ s phenomenology has a special power to address such a crisis— a philosophical power far better suited to the questions than other modern approaches, with their over-reliance on assumptions drawn from the natural sciences. The book examines key moments in the development of Merleau-Ponty’ s philosophy of nature while roughly following the historical sequence of his major works. Toadvine begins by setting out an ontology of nature proposed in Merleau-Ponty’ s first book, The Structure of Behavior. He takes up the theme of the expressive role of reflection in Phenomenology of Perception, as it negotiates the area between nature’ s own "self-unfolding" and human subjectivity. Merleau-Ponty’ s notion of "intertwining" and his account of space provide a transition to Toadvine’ s study of the philosopher’ s later work— in which the concept of "chiasm," the crossing or intertwining of sense and the sensible, forms the key to Merleau-Ponty’ s mature ontology— and ultimately to the relationship between humans and nature.

Ted Toadvine

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