Reading of Process of Perception in Shabihkhani Through Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenological Theory

Merleau-Ponty, through a connective approach to intellectualistic and empiricist attitudes and offering phenomenology as a “third direction”, propounds concepts as basis of his theory in his philosophical method that by using them we can amplify the studying scope related to experimental and perceptual dimensions of Iranian cultural performance. Overarching hypothesis of this paper is that we can utilize some of key concepts of Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological theory in surveying the process of perception in Shabihkhani; concepts such as “embodiment”, “temporality” and “relation between subject and object”. Therefore, perception of Shabihkhani depends on three determined foregrounds: 1) the embodiment quality of performance of Shabihkhani, 2) the quality of embodiment presence of audience and 3) the connection and coextensive of embodiment quality of Shabihkhani and audience’s lived experiences and temporal dimension. The achievement of these three foregrounds would lead to creation of a collaborative space between performer and audience. Therefore, Shabihkhani is not a self-sufficient object, but an “interactive-evolutionary” process based on the embodied “presence” of Shabihkhans and the audience, which itself turns into, in a teleological horizon, a “phenomenological imperative”.