Criticism and the Discerning Eye

The philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty begins his final work with an observation about observation. We see things, themselves, the world is what we see: formulae of this kind express a faith common to the natural man and the philosopher-the moment he opens his eyes; they refer to a deep-seated set of mute "opinions" implicated in our lives. But what is strange about this faith is that if we seek to articulate it into theses or statements, if we ask ourselves what is this we, what seeing is, and what thing or world is, we enter into a labyrinth of difficulties and contradictions.'