The Sensitive Body

corporeality and affectivity in Merleau‑Ponty

Abstract

In this study, we seek to interrogate and delve into the enigma of the sensitive body conceiving affectivity as the foundational way of being in the world in Merleau‑Ponty’s philosophy. Our study aims to demonstrate that the flesh acts as the in‑between (“entre‑deux”) of the sensitive body, which we term the affective‑lived body (affective‑bodily resonance of the world in us), crystallized in the fundamental affective tone of astonishment. This affective dimension of human thought and being constitutes the foundation and meaning of the entire life‑world experience. We explore affectivity as a non‑objectifying intentionality, a universal form of brute being, and an ontological rehabilitation of the sensible. This journey takes us from the esthesiological body to the libidinal, opening up to another understanding of feeling, desire, love, and thought. We further extend this exploration of the sensible into the realms of art, literature, and theology, envisioning the possibilities of an alternative metaphysics and an anonymous force at the heart of the world. Our research uncovers unthought aspects within Merleau‑Ponty’s philosophy, suggesting a renewed perspective on metaphysical categories and, in this way, perhaps revealing his own unthought. Throughout this work of reflection, we trace the path of a thinking sentient body, sensing infinite astonishment before “the strangeness of the world and things” and the enigma of our own incarnation.