What Is It To Be Deaf? Perception And Sensitivity For An Ontology Of Deafness

Abstract

In a brief search using the Google search platform, we came up with the following question: what does it mean to be deaf? Almost invariably, the answers found relate the deaf subject to the question of language, reducing their human condition specifically to the relevance of acquiring Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) in the context of the lived world. But this is not in fact what we set out to understand in this text. In fact, this paper aims to describe, from an ontological point of view, what it means to be deaf in the world of life. In addition, we intend to show how the sensitivity of the deaf subject develops and moves beyond the objective dimensions and to unveil in the world of silence the place of their speech and the exercise of their perception and feeling. To this end, we will draw on the thinking of Merleau-Ponty, since his critique of idealism and realism, as well as theories of behavior, have much to contribute to this investigation. We have therefore organized the work in three moments: in the first, we will deal with the notion of deaf perception from the author's own experience; in the second, we will articulate the descriptive notions of descriptive notions of sensibility based on the critique of objective thought. Finally, in the last section, we try to understand the experience of deafness as a human condition that can never be seen as a limiting factor in our projects and actions. projects and our actions.