Landes, D: Merleau-Ponty and the Paradoxes of Expression

Acknowledgments \ Abbreviations \ Introduction - The Paradoxical Logic of Expression \ 1. Against the Establishment: Early Hints of an Expressive Logic \ 2. Expression and The Structure of Behavior \ 3. Expression and Phenomenology of Perception \ 4. The Politics of Expression \ 5. The Threads of Silence: Painting, Speaking, Writing \ 6. Painting Ontology \ Epilogue \ Bibliography \ Index

Donald A. Landes is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Concordia University, Montr al, Qu bec, Canada.

Don Landes gives us a new reading of Merleau-Ponty, at once wondrously insightful, compelling, and rigorous, that shows how expression and creativity are at the heart of his philosophy. In doing so, Landes makes a deep and lasting contribution to Merleau-Ponty scholarship, by revealing a developing unity across Merleau-Ponty's philosophy, from start to finish, and linking Merleau-Ponty's views of expression and the body to their philosophical context, especially to Gabriel Marcel and Leon Brunschvicg. But Landes also makes an original contribution by showing how Merleau-Pontian expression fruitfully connects to the studies of the genesis of meaning in Gilbert Simondon and Jean-Luc Nancy, and how a Merleau-Pontian phenomenology of expression speaks to current philosophical concerns. -- David Morris, Department Chair and Professor of Philosophy, Concordia University, Canada 20130417 Donald Landes' Merleau-Ponty and the Paradoxes of Expression presents a remarkably clear reading of Merleau-Ponty's entire philosophical itinerary, going from his early The Structure of Behavior to his final writings around the time of The Visible and the Invisible. Landes' study is oriented by what must be considered Merleau-Ponty's most important concept: expression. Through "the paradoxes of expression," Landes, in fact, joins up with Merleau-Ponty's movement of thought, extends it and reveals what aspect that had remain "unthought." There is no question that Landes' Merleau-Ponty and the Paradoxes of Expression is an outstanding study of Merleau-Ponty thought. But also, I think it will be viewed as a classical study, rivaling the studies produced by Dillon, Madison, and Barbaras. -- Leonard Lawlor, Sparks Professor of Philosophy, Penn State University, USA 20130417 Donald Landes' Merleau-Ponty and the Paradoxes of Expression offers a "genetic engagement" with Merleau-Ponty's work, drawing together the expressive traces that run like lines of force through his corpus, from the earliest