Central and East European
Society for Phenomenology

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230143

Surrender and subjectivity

Merleau-Ponty and Patočka on intersubjectivity

Eddo Evink(University of Groningen)

pp. 13-28

Abstract

In Jan Patočka’s phenomenology of intersubjectivity one can find clear influences of Merleau-Ponty. By both philosophers intersubjectivity is seen as a form of reversibility that has a primacy above personal subjectivity. But Patočka adds to this idea of reversibility the notion of surrender or dedication. In this article it is demonstrated how Patočka’s conception on surrender is developed in his idea of the three movements of human existence. Moreover, the understanding of intersubjectivity through surrender is presented as an important step towards an answer to several points of critique on Merleau-Ponty’s views on intersubjectivity, that were brought to the fore by Claude Lefort. Finally, in this article several aspects of surrender are distinguished in order to give more insight in the functioning and effects of the third movement of human life.

Publication details

Published in:

(2013) Maurice Merleau-Ponty - Jan Patočka. Meta 5 (1).

Pages: 13-28

Full citation:

Evink Eddo (2013) „Surrender and subjectivity: Merleau-Ponty and Patočka on intersubjectivity“. Meta 5 (1), 13–28.