“Merleau-Ponty and the Culturing of the Body” at Goucher College The 1999 Goucher College Philosophy Conference was held on November 4-6 at Goucher College in Baltimore, MD. Organized around the theme of “Merleau-Ponty and the Culturing of the Body,” the conference examined Merleau-Ponty's work on embodiment in a wide variety of contexts, ranging from traditional Merleau-Pontian themes in aesthetics and ontology, to the implications a Merleau-Pontian inspired phenomenology holds for studies of social ecology, environmental responsibility, race, and gender. Highlights of the conference included invited presentations by Alphonso Lingis (Pennsylvania State University), Hugh Silverman (SUNY/Stony Brook), and James Hatley (Salisbury State University). Speaking on the first day of the conference, Lingis discussed the relevance of Merleau-Ponty for his recent work on personal identity and dignity, stressing the importance of Merleau-Ponty's early emphasis on the figure/ground relationship of Gestalt psychology to his own understanding of personal identity as an episodic and short-lived phenomena. Day two of the conference featured a presentation by Hugh Silverman, whose paper “Specters of Merleau-Ponty”explored the impact of Merleau-Ponty's work on such contemporary figures as Emmanuel Levinas, Jacques Derrida, and Jean-François Lyotard. On the conference's final day, James Hatley, in an innovative paper entitled “Fleshly Motility: Walking into the Wild,” explored how Merleau-Ponty's enigmatic notion of “wild being”(être sauvage) could be used to provide a foundation for notions of environmental responsibility grounded in human experiences of wilderness, such as, for example, in those typified by low-impact backpacking and hiking. Following an introduction by Goucher Academic Dean Robert Welch, main conference sessions began on Thursday morning with a panel addressing the topic of “Merleau-Ponty and Social Ecology.” Participants included Herbert Reid and Betsy Taylor (University of Kentucky), who spoke on “Merleau-Ponty and the Practical Tasks of Ecological Citizenship,” and Edmund Sherman (SUNY/Albany), who examined the relation between embodiment and aging in his “Aging and Body Preoccupation in Light of Merleau-Ponty.” Hwa Yol Jung (Moravian College), in “Body Politics: Merleau-Ponty and Bakhtin Compared,” then discussed the political implications of Merleau-Ponty's emphasis on perception as an active, dialogical process via a comparison with Bakhtin's understanding of the body as site of a “carnivalesque freedom.” Afternoon sessions included a paper presentation by Christopher Adamo (New School) on the corporeal schema of infants and the experience of others, as well as by Emily S. Lee (SUNY/Stony Brook), who discussed ways in which the generality and anonymity implicit in Merleau-Ponty's analysis of relations with others may inhibit our understanding of those relations in cases where such visible differences such as race and gender are involved. Conference activities recommenced on Friday morning with a panel devoted to examining the impact of Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology on studies of gender and sexuality. Sarah C. Miller (SUNY/Stony Brook), in a paper entitled “Merleau-Ponty's Body and Its Sexual Being: The Erotic Encounter and Sexual Difference,” presented a critical reading of Merleau-Ponty's account of sexuality as presented in Phenomenology of Perception. Drawing on the work of Judith Butler and Luce Irigaray, Miller suggested how Merleau-Ponty's emphasis on the visual in his discussion of erotic relations conceals a teleological end oriented primarily toward the fulfillment of male desire. Following Miller, Janice McLane explored the phenomena of the “good girl,” utilizing Merleau-Ponty's notion of style to suggest ways in which traditional conceptions of female goodness may serve to represent internalized forms of oppression inherently limiting women's openness to the world. Laura Doyle then presented a paper addressing Merleau-Ponty and African-American fiction entitled “Chiasmatic Crisis and Cubist Narration in African-American Fiction: Reading Our Nig.” Friday sessions concluded with presentations by Geraldine Finn (Carleton University) on the relevance of Merleau-Ponty's critique of scientism for contemporary genetic research, and by Ralph D. Ellis (Clark Atlanta University) on the applications of Merleau-Pontian phenomenology in cognitive science. The conference's final day began with a discussion of Merleau-Ponty's ontology, featuring papers by Ernest Sherman (Pace University), “Merleau's Ponty's Inspiration: Life as Fundamental Drama,” and by Wayne Froman (George Mason University), “The Great Mute Land the We Never Leave and Our Opening to Being.” Following Hatley's invited presentation, afternoon sessions then focused on Merleau-Ponty's aesthetics. In “Vision Made Visible: Merleau-Ponty on El Greco and the Painter's Task,” Gene Pendleton (Kent State) discussed Merleau-Ponty's seminal essay “Eye and Mind,” drawing careful attention to the “idosyncratic reflexivity” and “carnal isomorphism” that develops between the painter's body, the painting, and what is depicted in the work of art. Shannon Mussett (Villanova), in “Merleau-Ponty's Painter: The Intertwining of Art and Philosophy,” then continued the discussion of the role of the painter in Merleau-Ponty's aesthetic works, stressing the underlying emphasis Merleau-Ponty places in his discussions of Cezanne on the work of art as a cultural production, rather than as the product of a single individual or genius. The conference concluded with a presentation by Patricia M. Locke (St. John's College) that addressed the relation between the notions of place and embodiment in Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology entitled “The Body as Place.” Throughout the conference, participants – from over 25 universities and colleges across the United States and Canada – enjoyed a number of activities in and around the Baltimore area, including a celebratory dinner hosted by the college on Friday evening. “Merleau-Ponty and the Culturing of the Body” was organized by John Rose (Philosophy, Goucher College), with the assistance of associate conference director Sally Fischer (Philosophy, Goucher College). Reviewed by Michael Sanders |