In this skepticism Derrida appears closer to Thao's mentor and primary influence, Merleau-Ponty, than to Thao himself. Let us first investigate the relationship between Thao and Merleau-Ponty,this questioning Derrida's division of "the versions (of Huseerlian phenomenology) proposed by Sartre or by Merle's-Ponty which were then dominant" and more materialist developments, and then turn to the common ground between Merleau-Ponty and Derrida.To begin with, Merleau-Ponty, like Thao, places a heavy emphasis on the dialectic, although with a more open philosophical objective: