Toombs and Merleau-Pontus on Phantom-Limb Syndrome and Intentionality

“Merleau-Ponty would argue that my inability to recall or re-imagine ‘walking’ can be understood in terms of bodily intentionality. For instance, he notes that the phenomenon of ‘phantom limb’ is best explained in terms of the body’s involvement with the environment. The person who feels the phantom limb does so for as long as the body remains open to the types of actions for which the limb would be the center of it were still operative (Merleau-Ponty, 1962: 76). Thus, my inability to re-imagine ‘walking’ might be understood in terms of a permanent change in bodily intentionality. My limbs are no longer open to the possibility of moving in a certain manner (i.e., in the mode of ‘walking’).