Primordial faith and horizon: Merleau-Ponty’s proposal for a new rationality

Abstract

The main objective of the article is to clarify the most important features of what can be called a new rationality in the thought of Merleau-Ponty. Firstly, we recapitulate Merleau-Ponty’s philosophical proposal as an archaeological return to the primary experience of meaning. Secondly, the conception of ‘perceptual faith’ or ‘primordial faith’ as an institution of meaning is analyzed in detail. In this context, the central place that occupies the notion of world or horizon as the soil or homeland of all forms of rationality is established. The article critically discusses some of the positions held in this regard by Etienne Bimbenet.