Manlio Iofrida

ABSTRACT: On the basis of a definition of ecology centred on Merleau-Ponty’s thought, this essay examines the various phases of Foucauldian thought and their respective relationships to possible ecological outcomes: the Dionysian phase, which lasts until The Order of Things ; the microphysics of power phase, in which a philosophy of the will that radically breaks with any idea of the original becomes central; and the late Foucault phase, characterised by the themes of the hermeneutics of the self, subjectivity and critique. In the latter period in particular, in which Foucault’s rapprochement with Canguilhem and the idea of a living being immersed in a dialectical relationship with the environment and with others is very strong, a model is identified that is particularly amenable to interpretation in ecological terms. The essay concludes with some research hypotheses on the possible relationship between a philosophy of the will, such as that mediated by Foucault from Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, and ecology.

The emergence of ecology as a fundamental horizon not only of politics, but also of contemporary philosophy, pushes us to rethink the relationship that currents of thought such as Kuturkritik and phenomenology, especially the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, can maintain with it. After a preliminary consideration of post-structuralist and postmodern positions from this perspective, the essay focuses on the French philosopher, and in particular on his courses on Nature and on his elaboration of the Husserlian concept of Stiftung. This results in Merleau-Ponty’s original position on the Kultur – Civilization alternative: critique of unlimited productivism, respect for the environment, and, at the same time, defense of the variety of cultures and traditions from a homogenizing globalization are valuable tools that his philosophy offers to the debates of our time.

Una prima parte del saggio sintetizza le linee principali di un recente libro dell’autore: Per un paradigma del corpo: una rifondazione filosofica dell’ecologia, Quodlibet, Macerata, 2019. Viene sostenuto un paradigma in cui corpo e biologia mantengano la loro irriducibilità nei confronti della cultura e in cui il cosiddetto “linguistic turn”, che ha dominato la filosofia del XX secolo, viene fortemente criticato; in coerenza con questo, la riflessione di Merleau-Ponty sul concetto di natura viene considerata lo strumento più adeguato e più attuale per ripensare la questione ecologica; ne vengono esaminate le conseguenze nel campo della filosofia della tecnologia e del problema del soggetto. Una seconda parte del saggio, che si concentra sull’incontro che ebbe luogo nel 1961 fra Adorno e Merleau-Ponty, cerca di abbozzare un paradigma materialistico per l’ecologia, correggendo l’avvicinamento che alla fine della sua vita vi fu fra Merleau-Ponty e Heidegger.