Abstract

This article brings out the crucial role of the issue of “institution” in Merleau- Ponty’s thought. Building on Husserl’s concept of Stiftung and reacting to suggestions from ethnology, arts and politics, Merleau- Ponty goes beyond Husserl’s logic of “constitution” by dismantling all “philosophy of consciousness”, and at the same time formulates a deeply innovative notion of institution, whereby this is conceived as rooted in an invisible “power” – the underlying facet of history.