The aim of this paper is to search for the concept of action in Maurice Merleau-Ponty (in The Structure of Behavior) At first, I take a general look at his concept of behavior. Merleau-Ponty tries to grasp it as a structure. Then, in the second section, the concept of action is sought for in his discussion by using a clue as his concept of consciousness. He divides it in two: one is a lived consciousness,the other is a reflexive consciousness. In correspondence with each of these,two types of action can be found out in Merleau-Ponty. In the third section, the relationship between behavior and action is examined on the basis of his concept of structure. In addition, I question how the two kinds of consciousness is related with each other. In the next two sections, I consider about what Merleau-Ponty takes up in his analysis of action. In the fourth section, the structure of action is focused on.Concretely, it is the structure of actor's consciousness. In the fifth section, the meaning of action is made into investigation. Merleau-Ponty regards it as not only meaning of actor's consciousness but also meaning of action itself. Lastly, in the sixth section, I summarize this paper and indicate my next task.
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