In this article I try to show that there is an evolution in Merleau-Ponty’s understanding of the concept structure. Structure is neither an entity nor an a priori principle, but the expression of certain configurations of sense and meaning. There is a transition from a static to a dynamic approach, paralleling a movement from a philosophy of structure to a philosophy of individuation. There exists for each individual a general structure of behavior as a unity expressed in certain constants of (...) its conduct. The structure is a momentary manifestation of the general orientation of the passive-affective life in its bodily expressions. Structuration is the act of creating order in the perception of the surrounding situation and the process of taking a position in it. By doing so Merleau-Ponty replaces the Gestalt psychology with a philosophy of the living being. This essential philosophical intuition culminates in the concept of style, which becomes an important element in Merleau-Ponty’s later phenomenological aesthetics and phenomenology of world appearance. (shrink)

Our time as the age of fragmented cultural ontologies, acceleration, and ongoing socio-cultural transformations is the age of the quest of belonging par excellence. My paper deals with this quest out of a singular culturally situated perspective – the work of the Indologist and comparative philosopher Daryush Shayegan (1935–2018) – which despite its singularity hints at a general hypothesis: the recognition of a tamed cultural schizophrenia can be an inspiring model of belonging for our time.