Merleau-Ponty and the Essence of Nature

Taylor Knight reveals the way in which phenomenology initiates a return to ontology construed through a dialectical relationship between being and element. Within phenomenology's return to the elemental, Merleau-Ponty and the Essence of Nature is a key locus, opening critical paths forward into an ontology for the ecological age.

With reference to his phenomenological forebears—Heidegger, Husserl, Levinas—his non-phenomenological influences—Bachelard, Schelling, Freud—and his dialogue with Greek thought—Heraclitus, Plato, Aristotle—Knight shows what is authentically new in Merleau-Ponty's late ontology.