The body as mediator of the world : contributions by Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Don Ihde

Abstract

This article focuses on Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of the body and his explications of the body as mediator of the world. Merleau-Ponty's notion of the body which projects the cultural world around it by means of 'making' (technē) and 'using / applying' (technique / habit acquisition), is complimented by Bourdieu's notion of individual and social habitus. However, the significant contribution by Don Ihde - contemporary American philosopher of technology - on the structural relations between the body and technology, better serves as an extension to Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of our bodily engagement in the world. In fact, Ihde's notion of human-technology relations and mediation are mutually inclusive. In their explications of embodiment and technics, the Ihde- Merleau-Ponty pair gives us a comprehensive idea on mediation and on the relations between the body, perception, the cultural and symbolic world and technics.

Hierdie artikel fokus op Maurice Merleau-Ponty se fenomenologie van die liggaam en sy uiteensetting van die liggaam as bemiddelaar van die wêreld. Merleau-Ponty se idee dat die liggaam die kulturele wêreld projekteer deur die proses van 'maak' (technē), aanwending / toepassing (tegniek / gewoontevorming), word uitgebrei deur Bourdieu se idees oor individuele - en sosiale habitus. Die belangrike bydrae deur die kontemporêre tegniekfilosoof, Don Ihde, ten opsigte van die strukturele verhouding tussen die liggaam en tegnologiese artefakte (of tegnologie), vul Merleau-Ponty se fenomenologie van die liggaam-in-die-wêreld baie goed aan. Ons kan aanneem dat Ihde se konsep van mens-tegnologieverhoudings en bemiddeling gepaard gaan. Die Merleau-Ponty-Ihde - paar se werk gee vir ons 'n beter idee oor bemiddeling, oor die verband tussen die liggaam, waarneming, die kulturele - en simboliese wêreld asook tegniek.