Birth and Natality in Feminist Philosophy

Type:

Book Chapter

Author:

Alison Stone

Published:

2019

Publisher:

Oxford University PressOxford

Abstract This chapter sets out the views on birth and being born of Irigaray, Cavarero, and Jantzen. Irigaray’s feminism of sexual difference and her attention to the maternal body lead her to consider birth. She argues that we have psychological difficulties around birth, difficulties that have found expression in canonical works of philosophy. For Irigaray, these expressions help us to piece together what is in fact involved in being born, and to remember our debts to the mothers from whom we are born. The chapter also looks at Cavarero’s understanding of natality, which is informed by Arendt as well as Irigaray, and at how Irigaray, Cavarero, and Jantzen criticize Western culture for being preoccupied with death and mortality while neglecting birth and natality.

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