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Work #439 · Late

The Visible and the Invisible

Maurice Merleau-Ponty
1964 (posthumous; composed 1959-61) · French
Phenomenological ontology · French phenomenology

Merleau-Ponty's unfinished 1964 late ontology of the "flesh of the world"

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute The Visible and the Invisible (Late)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Both
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Personal
Observer · Moral Authority Experience
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

The Visible and the Invisible

The reversible-chiasmic time of flesh.

Space

The Visible and the Invisible

The flesh of the world as common spatial element.

Matter

The Visible and the Invisible

Central — the "flesh" as new ontological element.

Observer

The Visible and the Invisible

The embodied chiasmic self.

Energy

The Visible and the Invisible

Energies of reversible flesh-relations.

Information

The Visible and the Invisible

Unfinished late phenomenological ontology.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

The Visible and the Invisible

Cut short by Merleau-Ponty's sudden death in 1961; the new ontology was never completed.