Merleau-Ponty and Metaphor

Stressing the pivotal nature of both language and metaphor in Merleau-Ponty's philosophy, Gill first offers a detailed identification and examination of all the major metaphorical expressions used by Merleau-Ponty in his main works, including Phenomenology of Perception, his major essays; and in his final unfinished volume, The Visible and the Invisible. Gill then provides a summary of Merleau-Ponty's perspective on the nature of language and thought, the role of metaphor, and the function of philosophy. At a time when the nature and function of metaphorical thought and expression has become a crucial intersection for philosophical and scientific thought on the one hand, and artistic and religious thought on the other, such a study is especially significant. Moreover, since the topic of metaphor has been taken up extensively by both analytic and continental philosophers, Mcrlcau-Ponty's work offers an excellent opportunity for establishing lines of connection between phenomenological and analytic philosophy. 'A valuable contribution to the study of Merleau-Ponty's use of language.'.