•  17
    Merleau‐Ponty, Taylor, and the expressiveness of language
    Southern Journal of Philosophy. forthcoming.
    This article explores how the thought that language is expressive, in the sense of bearing emotional or affective meaning, can be made sense of, with particular attention to two authors for whom this thought plays an important role. It begins by introducing the idea of language being “expressive” and using Charles Taylor's work to consider its potential interest, before showing how the expressiveness of language might be accounted for by a position that seems particularly suited to this task, na…Read more
  •  35
    Merleau-Ponty’s ‘sensible ideas’ and embodied-embedded practice
    Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 22 (2): 501-524. 2023.
    In _The Visible and the Invisible_ Merleau-Ponty develops a notion of ‘sensible ideas’ that conceives general meaning as inseparable from its realization in sensible particulars. Such ideas – exemplified by music – are to capture the specificity of the meaning produced by embodied agency and serve as the foundation of all cognition. This article argues that, although Merleau-Ponty overgeneralizes their application, sensible ideas are philosophically important in enabling better understanding of …Read more
  •  14
    The Nonconceptual Content of Paintings
    Estetika: The European Journal of Aesthetics 48 (1): 29. 2020.
  •  19
    Mit oder ohne die Anderen? Beauvoir contra Nietzsche über Freiheit
    In Alfred Betschart, Andreas Urs Sommer & Paul Stephan (eds.), Nietzsche Und der Französische Existenzialismus, De Gruyter. pp. 161-174. 2022.
    This article focuses on Beauvoir’s critique of the “adventurer”, an apparently Nietzschean figure she depicts as “inauthentic” in The Ethics of Ambiguity. Its aim is to assess whether her criticisms of individualistic freedom amount to a tenable critique of Nietzsche. I start by outlining Beauvoir’s conception of the adventurer and his faults, before showing how this figure closely tracks distinctive features of Nietzsche’s “free spirit”. Finally, I evaluate whether or not Beauvoir’s criticisms …Read more
  •  29
    Merleau-Ponty’s ‘sensible ideas’ and embodied-embedded practice
    Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 22 (2): 1-24. 2021.
    In The Visible and the Invisible Merleau-Ponty develops a notion of ‘sensible ideas’ that conceives general meaning as inseparable from its realization in sensible particulars. Such ideas – exemplified by music – are to capture the specificity of the meaning produced by embodied agency and serve as the foundation of all cognition. This article argues that, although Merleau-Ponty overgeneralizes their application, sensible ideas are philosophically important in enabling better understanding of th…Read more
  •  40
    Although it was never the central focus of his philosophical interests, Merleau-Ponty is one of few philosophers to conceive painting as having an exemplary role not merely as a form of art but mor...
  •  25
    Complex Community: Towards a Phenomenology of Language Sharing
    In Chad Engelland (ed.), Language and Phenomenology, Routledge. pp. 177-193. 2020.
    Language is indisputably in some sense a social phenomenon. But in which sense? Philosophical conceptions of language often assume a simple relationship between individual speakers and a language community, one of which is attributed primacy and used to understand the other. Having identified some problems faced by two such conceptions—social holism and individualism—this article outlines an alternative phenomenological view of shared language by focusing on two principal ways that language is s…Read more
  •  79
    Merleau‐Ponty and the significance of style
    European Journal of Philosophy 27 (2): 468-483. 2018.
    A distinctive feature of Merleau-Ponty’s thought is the central role he assigns style in generally characterizing embodied agents’ perceptual and cognitive functioning. Despite this, he says little to explain how he conceives style itself. This article therefore aims to clarify Merleau-Ponty’s notion of style and its significance within and beyond his work. It begins by surveying his broad application of the term and using his discussions of painting to reconstruct his conception of style, ident…Read more
  • Formale Anzeige und das Voraussetzungsproblem
    In Friederike Rese (ed.), Heidegger und Husserl im Vergleich, Klostermann. pp. 13-33. 2010.
    Zunächst wird dargelegt, wie Heidegger bei seinem Anschluß an Husserls Projekt einer radikalen Phänomenologie ein deutlicheres Verständnis für die methodologische Rolle von Voraussetzungen entwickelt. Die Idee der formalen Anzeige, die Heideggers Schriften um 1920 durchzieht, wird als ein nichtsetzender, schematischer Modus des Zeichengebrauchs expliziert, der auf wiederholte phänomenologische Auslegung abgestimmt ist. Abschließend wird dargelegt, wie diese Idee auf eine Umdeutung des Wesens von…Read more
  •  17
    McDowell and the Puzzle of Conceptual Form
    Minerva - An Internet Journal of Philosophy 19 (1): 64-80. 2015.
    In the course of recent debate with Hubert Dreyfus John McDowell emphasizes the notion of conceptual form or shape to explain how conceptual capacities are ‘operative’ in prereflective ‘coping’ activities. This paper considers how that notion is to be interpreted. In particular it considers whether or not it imposes a determinate constraint on the form of content and argues that both interpretations are unsatisfactory. Assuming conceptual form to be determinate is unnecessary to explain the univ…Read more
  •  3
    The Complexities of ‘Abstracting’ from Nature
    In Paul Crowther & Isabel Wünsche (eds.), Meanings of Abstract Art: From Nature to Theory, Routledge. pp. 255-269. 2012.
    This paper considers what it is to abstract from nature. Using examples from painting its first part examines the traditional contrast between abstraction and naturalistic representation, arguing that this relies on a specifically visual notion of representation, but not on what is natural or what is abstract. Its second part discusses examples from land art in which natural elements are incorporated in an artwork’s structure. An alternative view of modern art’s representational possibilities is…Read more
  •  20
    Phenomenology of Language in a 4e-World
    In Jack Alan Reynolds & Richard Sebold (eds.), Phenomenology and Science, Palgrave. pp. 141-159. 2016.
    In recent years there has been much productive interaction between phenomenological authors and work in (‘4e’) cognitive science emphasizing the embodied, embedded, enactive and extended nature of cognition. These interactions have centred on areas of interest common to phenomenology and philosophy of mind, such as embodiment or first-personal experience, with language receiving relatively little attention. This paper aims to broaden these interactions by showing how phenomenology of language co…Read more
  •  35
    Introduction: Merleau-Ponty’s Gordian knot
    Continental Philosophy Review 50 (1): 1-3. 2016.
    Whether or not Merleau-Ponty’s version of phenomenology should be considered a form of ‘transcendental’ philosophy is open to debate. Although the Phenomenology of Perception presents his position as a transcendental one, many of its features—such as its exploitation of empirical science—might lead to doubt that it can be. This paper considers whether Merleau-Ponty meets what I call the ‘transcendentalist challenge’ of defining and grounding claims of a distinctive transcendental kind. It begins…Read more
  •  33
    Nietzsche’s Genealogy: A Textbook Parody
    Nietzsche Studien 47 (1): 140-166. 2018.
    Given its apparently scholarly form, the Genealogy of Morals is often read as a succinct, relatively systematic, and canonical exposition of Nietzsche’s mature views on morality. This article argues, however, that the work was intended as a parody of a scholarly treatise and examines how this parody is best understood. It begins by surveying some evidence that supports reading the Genealogy as a ‘textbook’ presentation of Nietzsche’s views. It then develops an exegetic case for reading it as a w…Read more
  •  42
    Sartre's Literary Phenomenology
    Sartre Studies International 23 (1): 1-21. 2017.
    This article focuses on the relation between philosophy and literature in early Sartre, showing how his literary writing can be seen as philosophically significant by interpreting Sartre as practising a variant of phenomenological method. I first clarify Sartre’s approach to phenomenological method by comparing and contrasting it with Husserl’s. Despite agreeing that philosophy is a reflective descriptive study of essences, Sartre sees no use for phenomenological reduction and free variation. I …Read more
  •  50
    Being articulate: Rede in Heidegger’s Being and Time
    International Journal of Philosophical Studies 25 (1): 99-118. 2017.
    Being and Time’s emphasis on practical activities has attracted much attention as an approach to meaning not modelled exclusively on language. However, understanding this emphasis is made more difficult by Heidegger’s notion of Rede, which he routinely characterizes as both language-like and basic to all disclosure. This paper assesses whether this notion can be both interpreted coherently and reconciled with Heidegger’s emphasis on intelligent nonlinguistic behaviours. It begins by identifying …Read more
  •  31
    The Nonconceptual Content of Paintings
    Estetika: The European Journal of Aesthetics 48 (1): 29-45. 2011.
    This article argues that paintings have a nonconceptual content unlike that of mechanically produced images. The first part of the article outlines an information-theory approach modelled on the camera and based on the idea that pictures convey information about what they depict. Picture structure is conceived of as contentful by virtue of a supposed causal link with what is depicted and as nonconceptual because it is independent of observers’ understanding. The second part introduces an embodie…Read more
  •  60
    In this book, Andrew Inkpin considers the disclosive function of language—what language does in revealing or disclosing the world. His approach to this question is a phenomenological one, centering on the need to accord with the various experiences speakers can have of language. With this aim in mind, he develops a phenomenological conception of language with important implications for both the philosophy of language and recent work in the embodied-embedded-enactive-extended tradition of cogniti…Read more
  •  85
    Was Merleau-Ponty a ‘transcendental’ phenomenologist?
    Continental Philosophy Review 50 (1): 27-47. 2016.
    Whether or not Merleau-Ponty’s version of phenomenology should be considered a form of ‘transcendental’ philosophy is open to debate. Although the Phenomenology of Perception presents his position as a transcendental one, many of its features—such as its exploitation of empirical science—might lead to doubt that it can be. This paper considers whether Merleau-Ponty meets what I call the ‘transcendentalist challenge’ of defining and grounding claims of a distinctive transcendental kind. It begins…Read more
  •  71
    Ideas above its Station: Putting Folk Psychology in its Place
    European Journal of Philosophy 18 (4): 588-599. 2010.
  •  43
    Taking Rorty's Irony Seriously
    Humanities 2 (2): 292-312. 2013.
    Richard Rorty’s Contingency, Irony and Solidarity (CIS) is an ambitious and provocative, but for many readers a deeply flawed work. This paper argues that many of its apparent flaws can be understood as integral to Rorty’s attempt to write a work of private, post-theoretical irony. The paper’s first section outlines the substantive theoretical claims about language, selfhood and community which Rorty proposes as an antiessentialist alternative to ‘metaphysics’. The second identifies three diffic…Read more
  •  58
    Projection, Recognition, and Pictorial Diversity
    Theoria 82 (1): 32-55. 2015.
    This article focuses on the difficulty for a general theory of depiction of providing a notion of pictorial content that accommodates the full diversity of picture types. The article begins by introducing two basic models of pictorial content using paradigmatic positions that maximize the ability of the respective models to deal with pictorial diversity. Kulvicki's On Images is interpreted as a generalized projection-based model which proposes a scene-centred notion of pictorial content. By cont…Read more