Patocka, Merleau-Ponty and the Question of the Limits of Phenomenology

The purpose of this paper is to lay out the similarities between the philosophical projects of Patocka and Merleau-Ponty, with respect to the question of the "limits of phenomenology". We suggest that both these authors propose two complementary strategies in their attempt of overcoming the Husserlian phenomenology. The first one consists in extending the field of phenomenology so as for it to be able to encompass phenomena either insufficiently explored or misinterpreted by the conceptuality that Husserl put forth; the second strategy, more ambitious, aims to overpass the very standpoint of phenomenology in favour of an ontological approach. We try to show that what profoundly motivates these attempts is a radical - and hence, ontological - reinterpretation of the Lebenswelt.