Rhythm and Flesh: Thérèse Gärff on phenomenology, Deleuze and Merleau-Ponty
On February the 18th and 26th, doctoral researcher Thérese Gärff gave two seminars where they shared their valuable insights and research on embodied phenomenology and rhythmic experience.
The first session was held as a reading group, where different texts were shared, commented, and analyzed. The question that articulated the meeting reads as follows: What does Gilles Deleuze mean when he talks about meat, flesh and the ominous body without organs?
On the other hand, "Rhythm and experience: Research at the borders of the phenomenal" entitles a chapter by Thérèse Gärff's doctoral research, which they presented in the Department’s International Seminar.
Rhythm is conceptualized as the fundamental structure underlying embodied experience, by relating Deleuze's concept of rhythm to the phenomenology of the body. Rhythm is understood as threefold: 1) metric arrangement on the level of reflexivity, 2) being-immersed/flowing in rhythm on a passive level of experience and 3) and relation of meter and flow, either experienced reactively/unconsciously or aware of itself/ in epoché. The aim through the presentation is to receive constructive feedback from fellow researchers.
Who is Thérèse Gräff? They are a doctoral candidate in philosophy at Charles University in Prague. Their research focuses on the rhythmicity of experience, and their research areas include embodied phenomenology, Gilles Deleuze, rhythmanalysis after Pascal Michon, and psychotherapeutic schools such as those of Henri Maldiney and Viktor Frankl. Recent publications are the monograph Bist du bei Sinnen oder philosophierst du noch - Die Logotherapie Viktor Frankls und der Wert der Sinnfrage (Traugott Bautz, 2024) or Deleuze, Phenomenology and the Rhythms of Experience (Polish Journal of Aesthetics, to be published approx. 2/2026).