The Borderlands of ldentity and Culture: An Interrogation of Merleau-Ponty's Conception of Intersubjectivity

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with the philosophical problem of the universal and the particular and its application to identity and difference, specifically in relation to cultural identity. Merleau-Ponty's philosophy mediates between the extremes of a modernist view that seeks to subsume all difference in identity and a postmodem perspective that only validates our essential differences. Neither position offers a viable option for ethical relations or action. While the conclusion reached in the present work affirms the superiority of Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological view of difference and identity over either a modernist or a postmodemist perspective, initially Merleau-Ponty's notion of intersubjectivity is criticized. In the Phenomenology of Perception, MerleauPonty makes the claim that we can only ever live in one linguistic/social and cultural world. This claim does not account for the experience of immigrants, which attests to a borderland between worlds. In fact this claims seems to suggest that cultural worlds are to be viewed as hermetic localities. However, if Merleau-Ponty's earlier works are read in relation to the ontology of The Visible and the Invisible, the problems of subjectivism in his earlier works may be resolved. The notions of Flesh and Reversibility illustrate that Merleau-Ponty viewed identities as creative enterprises and by extension the intersubjective (t.e cultural and social ) world as one that is constantly re-creating boundary limits. This thesis explores the hermeneutical implications of the notions of Flesh and Reversibility in relation to cultural identity through the use of personal narrative. Identities are posited as imaginary idenitites and cultures are shown to be mutually implicated with each other.