Structural-phenomenological foundations of perception based on Merleau-Ponty

Abstract

In this article, we present and discuss the bases of a structural-phenomenological concept of perception based on Merleau-Ponty. We focus on the philosopher’s investigations of perceptual organization, more specifically on the relation between the objectifying property of perception and its articulation with the perceptual background. Our methodological approach is based on the communication, observed in the work of Merleau-Ponty, between the phenomenological conception of the perceptual horizon and the Gestalt principle of figure-ground. Our arguments center on three main points: the relation between the presentative property of perception and the field of its manifestation based on phenomenological and gestaltist assumptions; the attestation, through the examination of the criticism against the hypothesis of constancy, of the silent operance of the perceptual background; and the exploration of the functional factors involved in the perceptive organization.