Husserl, Merleau-Ponty and the Concept of Body Sense

Maurice Merleau-Ponty has undoubtedly made extensive use of Edmund Husserl's works, particularly Ideas and Cartesian Meditations in writing his book Phenomenology of Perception. However, the difference between Merleau-Ponty and Husserl's views comes to light as soon as his approach to Cartesian dualism of body-subject is studied and his views are compared with those of Husserl. Although Husserl emphasizes on the close relation between body and subject in some of his works, Merleau-Ponty does not approve of his emphasis on elements like phenomenological interpretation and transcendental subject which imply the mind's independence from body. He surpasses Husserl in emphasizing the body-mind unity and believes that not only does the body have a subjective nature, but also the subject is a creature due to its embodiment. Like Martin Heidegger, he believes that the study of subject as a creature in the world makes the explanation of understanding possible.