The Birth of the Institution. On Merleau-Ponty

This article discusses the concept of institution, central to the current philosophical-political debate, from a phenomenological point of view, and specifically in Merleau-Ponty’s writings. The first part presents the Merleau-Pontian elaboration of the theme, compared to its formulation in classical Husserlian phenomenology. It then explores the connection between birth and institution, explicitly elaborated by Merleau-Ponty, linking it to the pages of the French philosopher’s texts, in which he proposes a phenomenology of birth. As a final point, it argues for the need to consider the institution starting from birth, and not vice versa: the temporality of the institution, its beginning and duration over time, is interpreted in the light of the paradoxical time of birth.