The Problem of Finitude of Man in the Process of Modernity—— Based on the Perspective of French Phenomenology

Merleau-Ponty and Ricoeur’s interpretations of a passage from Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy involve the problematic of the finitude of man in the process of modernity.It is impossible to study man’s subjectivity without taking full account of his finitude.Man has his divinity,spirituality and materiality.His finitude is reflected in the tensions among the three natures,fully embodying the dialectic of I-think and I-can,and that of nothingness and thingness.It is necessary to clarify the evolution of the question of man’s finitude from early modern philosophy to late modern philosophy,which involves the differences within the same between the philosophies of Kant and Descartes in the former,and the similarities within the difference between the philosophies of Ricoeur and Merleau-Ponty in the later.Descartes’ philosophy recognizes finite reason but still seeks infinite reason,Kant’s philosophy replaces infinite reason with finite reason,but Ricoeur and Merleau-Ponty’s philosophies recognize the tension between rationality and irrationality and thus replace finite reason with finitude.Despite its hermeneutic detour,Ricoeur ’s philosophy always centers on what Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy calls one’s own body,overcoming early modern philosophy’s quest for abstract infinity without equating finitude with contingency,as contemporary philosophy does.