Bridging the “Two Cultures”: Merleau-Ponty and the Crisis in Modern Physics

Cosmos and History 9 (2):1-12 (2013)
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Abstract

This paper brings to light the significance of Merleau-Ponty’s thinking for contemporary physics. The point of departure is his 1956–57 Collège de France lectures on Nature, coupled with his reflections on the crisis in modern physics appearing in THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE. Developments in theoretical physics after his death are then explored and a deepening of the crisis is disclosed. The upshot is that physics’ intractable problems of uncertainty and subject-object interaction can only be addressed by shifting its philosophical base from objectivism to phenomenology, as Merleau-Ponty suggested. Merleau-Ponty’s allusion to “topological space” in THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE provides a clue for bridging the gap between “hard science” and “soft philosophy.” This lead is pursued in the present paper by employing the paradoxical topology of the Klein bottle. The hope is that, by “softening” physics and “hardening” phenomenology, the “two cultures” (cf. C. P. Snow) can be wed and a new kind of science be born.

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Steven M. Rosen
College of Staten Island (CUNY)

Citations of this work

Why Natural Science Needs Phenomenological Philosophy.Steven M. Rosen - 2015 - Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology 119:257-269.
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Reason, causation and compatibility with the phenomena.Basil Evangelidis - 2020 - Wilmington, Delaware, USA: Vernon Press.

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References found in this work

Eye and Mind.Maurice Merleau-Ponty - 1964 - In The Primacy of Perception. Evanston, USA: Northwestern University Press. pp. 159-190.
The roots of thinking.Maxine Sheets-Johnstone - 1990 - Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Human Posture: The Nature of Inquiry.John A. Schumacher - 1989 - State University of New York Press.
The Roots of Thinking.Maxine Sheets-Johnstone - 1998 - Hypatia 13 (3):177-181.
The Self-Evolving Cosmos: A Phenomenological Approach to Nature's Unity-in-Diversity.Steven M. Rosen - 2008 - World Scientific Publishing, Series on Knots and Everything.

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