Merleau-Ponty Through the Arts: Session 2 - Jazz, Embodiment, and Temporality

Maurice Merleau-Ponty is a key figure in phenomenology, and is considered one of the most influential philosophers of perception, embodiment, and lived experience.

In The World of Perception, Merleau-Ponty expounds upon at least two core premises. First, while not denying the utility of the scientific method, he posits that there is more to understand and appreciate about life that is not easily pinned down by science. Second, he draws contrasts between what he refers to as "the classical world", which for him communicates a perfect and final view of things, and "the modern world", which is messy, unfinished, and disquieting, yet ultimately more consistent with the ambiguity of life as it is. One of his vehicles for illustrating these two core premises is the arts. In fact, he admonishes us that we might "rehabilitate our perception" through considering the differences between classical art and contemporary art.

In this meetup series, we will take up Merleau-Ponty's invitation to understand perception - and life as it is lived - through contemporary arts. Each session has an assigned reading, and then we will watch a film related to the arts and then discuss the film - and the art medium - with respect to the article and Merleau-Ponty's ideas (and related phenomenologists).

If you are new to Merleau-Ponty, you can find The World of Perception here. It is a very accessible series of public lectures transcribed into a book. You may find this useful background reading for this series.

http://timothyquigley.net/cont/mp-wp.pdf

Meetup Rules: this is a hands-raised meetup, prioritizing people who have actually done the reading. You are welcome to attend if you have not done the reading, but comments will be reserved for those who have read ahead of time. Dialogue is meant to be respectful and cordial, with a zero-tolerance policy for anything otherwise.

Session 2: Jazz, Embodiment, and Temporality

Merleau-Ponty, alongside other phenomenologists, invokes the idea of intentionality as a core aspect of consciousness. His distinctive contribution is the idea of motor intentionality, and the distinction between the "habit body" (what we do as a function of pre-reflective, skilled and automatized engagement with the world) and the "present body" (adaptive and present to new situations). A unique way to view these ideas is through the lens of jazz, and jazz improvisation.

In this 2.5 hour meetup, we will watch together Chasing Trane, a retrospective on the life and work of legendary jazz saxophonist, John Coltrane.

In the remaining time, we will discuss the film alongside the following paper (please read this in advance): The Spur of the Moment: What Jazz Improvisation Tells Cognitive Science

[Join session 3 on raving and ecstatic dance with a special DJ set by Cece here.]