Cartesian Soul: . Embodiment and Phenomenology in the Wake of Descartes

Aesthetic Genesis is a highly original and suggestive work, one which combines a powerful systematic thesis with a provocative overview of the history of philosophy and (to a lesser extent) of theology and science. In approaching this work we wish to question some aspects of that historical account and in doing so, drawing especially on the emphasis on the corporeal in French thought from Descartes to Merleau-Ponty, sketch an alternative interpretation which we believe leads to a more nuanced approach to the idealism of Husserl and generally a more inclusive view of phenomenology than is allowed for in Mitscherlings account. This article consists of four parts. Part one will address some issues regarding the relation of Descartes to Medieval thought (I); part two will then trace an account of embodiment from Descartes through to Merleau-Ponty which indicates another strand in modern thought which in particular emphasises the place of habit and embodiment (II); part three will then turn to Hussserl and question the fruitfulness of discussing his account of intentionality under the rubric realism idealism (III); the final part concludes with some brief reflections on recent French phenomenology (IV) .