SOURCE: “The Philosopher and His Shadow,” in Signs, edited by John Wild, translated by Richard C. McCleary, Northwestern University Press, 1964, pp. 159-81.

In the following tribute, Merleau-Ponty attempts to find some of the “unthought thoughts” regarding nature, consciousness, and existence which can be generated by Husserl's thought.

Establishing a tradition means forgetting its origins, the aging Husserl used to say. Precisely because we owe so much to tradition, we are in no position to see just what belongs to it. With regard to a philosopher whose venture has awakened so many echoes, and at such an apparent distance from the point where he himself stood, any commemoration is also a betrayal—whether we do him the highly superfluous homage of our thoughts, as if we sought to gain them a wholly unmerited warrant, or whether on the contrary, with a respect which is not lacking in distance, we...