The Ontology of Becoming and the Ethics of Particularity — 2012 ·

By M. C. Dillon
Edited by Lawrence Hass

“Dillon was a force in Continental philosophy in the US for more than four decades. . . . This volume will keep his voice and thought alive for years to come.”

Galen Johnson — Professor of Philosophy, University of Rhode Island and General Secretary, International Merleau-Ponty Circle

M. C. Dillon (1938–2005) was widely regarded as a world-leading Merleau-Ponty scholar. His book Merleau-Ponty’s Ontology (1988) is recognized as a classic text that revolutionized the philosophical conversation about the great French phenomenologist. Dillon followed that book with two others: Semiological Reductionism, a critique of early-1990s linguistic reductionism, and Beyond Romance, a richly developed theory of love. At the time of his death, Dillon had nearly completed two further books to which he was passionately committed. The first one offers a highly original interpretation of Nietzsche’s ontology of becoming. The second offers a detailed ethical theory based on Merleau-Ponty’s account of carnal intersubjectivity. The Ontology of Becoming and the Ethics of Particularity collects these two manuscripts written by a distinguished philosopher at the peak of his powers—manuscripts that, taken together, offer a distinctive and powerful view of human life and ethical relations.

M. C. Dillon (1938–2005) was Distinguished Teaching Professor of Philosophy at Binghamton University. He was the author of Merleau-Ponty’s Ontology, Semiological Reductionism: A Critique of the Deconstructionist Movement in Philosophy, and Beyond Romance. He served as the General Secretary of the International Merleau-Ponty Circle from 1985 to 2005.

Lawrence Hass is a professor of humanities at Austin College in Sherman, Texas, where he teaches philosophy and theater arts. He is the author of Merleau-Ponty’s Philosophy and Transformations: Creating Magic Out of Tricks. He is coeditor of Rereading Merleau-Ponty: Essays Across the Continental-Analytic Divide and From the 18th Century to the Present: Performance Magic on the Western Stage.