Abstract

The aim of this book is to establish that Merleau Ponty's objections to classical theories of perception, as represented by Descartes and Berkely, are valid and to lend further support to these objections by providing an analysis of the theories themselves using Merleau Ponty's objections as a framework. In so far as the book focuses on Merleau Ponty, it does so by extracting from his phenomenological critique, a series of arguments which, it is contested, succeed in casting serious doubt on the soundness of classical theories of perception. The book is primarily intended to introduce analytic philosophers to phenomenology as an analytical and critical tool in the understanding of perception. The main conclusion of the book is that classical theories of perception cannot account for the phenomenon of perception.