Addressing Merleau-Ponty's work Phenomenology of Perception, in dialogue with The Visible and the Invisible, his lectures at the College de France, and his reading of Proust, this book argues that at play in his thought is a philosophy of "ontological lateness." This describes the manner in which philosophical reflection is fated to lag behind its objects; therefore an absolute grasp on being remains beyond its reach.

Merleau-Ponty articulates this philosophy against the backdrop of what he calls "cruel thought," a style of reflecting that seeks resolution by limiting,...