THE DIALECTIC PERCEPTION-THOUGHT IN MERLEAUPONTY’S PHENOMENOLOGY

ABSTRACT: This article was articulated around the conviction according to which knowledge comes fromperception, that is to say, the dialectic between the subject and the world. However perception which sustainsthought proved to be incapable of leading to things in-themselves, especially because of perspectivity. We thenturned to the conditions of possibility of vision precisely colour and light with regard to objects which arecharacterized by constancy, size and shape. We insisted on sight leading to Being since for Merleau-Ponty,Being is perceivable. This moved our attention to experience refuting any ready-made necessity or mentalistthought. Indeed, we underlined that the canonical formulas of thought are drawn from the sensible world. Ofcourse, thought was presented as being factual, perception as being the sure path to truth, and real being as thatwhich appears. In this sense, Merleau-Ponty inaugurated the new Cogito different from that of Descartes. Weended this article by a critique of what we found untenable in Merleau-Ponty‟s theory of perception, namely,understanding limited to the tangible, constancy, the conditions of sight and the declaration about the absolutecertainty of the world (not of individual things).

Keywords: Perception, thought, truth, vision, world.