Byzantine iconicity put to the test of Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy

Abstract

The paper is trying to approach Byzantine iconicity with tools offered by Merleau-Ponty's analysis. It is know that the French philosopher's phenomenology of perception has been enlarged by the considering of painting that was seen as part of a thought of complexity. Also, the French philosopher tried to transcend the traditional paradigm of the history of philosophy by incorporating what is on the limits of philosophy from other ways of thought to human sciences (linguistics,  anthropology). In the last phase of his work and in posthumous writings, Merledu-Ponty gave to this 'other of the thought' the name non-philosophy. Byzantine iconicity as the 'philosophy that is underlyins Byzantine iconography is very suitable for an approach non-philosophical according to Merledu-Ponty. At the end, it appears the notion of corporeity as central notion in Merleau-Ponty and in Byzantine iconicity especially as 'flesh of the beins' and as material negativity that leads to the establishment of a relation between iconic flesh and iconic spirit.