Philosopher Dermot Moran Lectures on Phenomenology

    On December 12, Dermot Moran, Professor from School of Philosophy of University College Dublin delivered a lecture at Luojia Forum entitled Husserl and Merle-Ponty on the Flesh: Phenomenology of Embodiment.

        Professor Dermot Moran began with the introduction of world famous philosophers including Edmund Husserl, Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Simone de Beauvoir, Emmanuel Levinas and Judith Butler. The lecture covered five themes, namely Intentionality, Consciousness, Embodiment, Empathy, Intersubjectivity and Life-World. Professor Dermot Moran elaborated Husserl on the Body, believing that when viewed from within, the Body appears as a freely moving organ (or system of such organs) by means of which the subject experiences the external world, while viewed from the outside, it presents itself as a reality sui generis, a thing inserted between the rest of the material world and the subjective sphere. Professor Dermot Moran also illustrated Merleau-Ponty’s relativised view, thinking that the Body is as dialectic of living body and its biological milieu, social subject and his group, even all our habits are an impalpable body for the ego of each moment. He reviewed the traditional distrust of body in Western (and Eastern) philosophy, analyzed the philosophical points on touching and touched, interweaving of touch and sight, kinaesthetic sensations,etc. To conclude this lecture, Professor Dermot Moran summarized Judith Butler’s critique of Merleau-Ponty by laying emphasis on her theory, holding that the Body is a tacit normative assumption about the heterosexual character of sexuality.

        Dermot Moran held the Professorship of Philosophy (Metaphysics and Logic) at University College Dublin since 1989 and since 2003 was an elected Member of the Royal Irish Academy. He was also elected as President of the International Federation of Philosophical Societies(FISP) from 2013 to 2018. Currently, he is Walter Murdoch Adjunct Professor in the Humanities, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia (2013-2016) and Director of the International Centre of Newman Studies in UCD. As an universally acknowledged phenomenologist, Professor Dermot Moran has made great contribution to the development and popularization of phenomenology.