Intentionality and behavior: The living being perception in merleau-ponty

Abstract

In the early works of Merleau-Ponty, perception is defined as a specific research topic, since, for the philosopher, it is at the junction of the subject and its basic living conditions. In The Structure of Behavior, his first book, Merleau-Ponty performs studies on the perceiving subject considered from outside, hence the importance that acquire, for the author, the notion of behavior and the experimental studies of animal psychology and psychopathology. In the work, the problem of the body and animality is rewritten by the refutation of the scientific construction of the biological reality according to structuralist biology and psychology. Structural thinking allows Merleau-Ponty to treat the animal's perception field from an intentional record, the result of a dialectical, not causal, conception of behavior. Based on discussions made by Merleau-Ponty in The Structure of Behavior, we highlight the key elements of interpretation of animal perception in terms of intentionality. Define the behavior of an intentional record mean to say that organic agriculture is instituting and meaningful. It is through action, guided by vital norms that the body establishes a significant means for you.