Rights statement: The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, 46 (2), 2015, © Informa Plc
Submitted manuscript, 148 KB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Irigaray's Ecological Phenomenology
T2 - towards an elemental materialism
AU - Stone, Alison
N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, 46 (2), 2015, © Informa Plc
PY - 2015/4/14
Y1 - 2015/4/14
N2 - This article provides an interpretation of the ecophenomenological dimension of Luce Irigaray's work. It shows that Irigaray builds upon Heidegger's recovery of the ancient sense of nature as physis, self-emergence into presence. But, against Heidegger, Irigaray insists that self-emergence is a material process undergone by fluid elements, such as air and water, of which the world is basically composed. This article shows that this “elemental materialist” position need not conflict with modern science. However, the article criticises Irigaray's claim that men and women inhabit radically different sexuate worlds. Although this claim has some phenomenological basis, ultimately it is undercut by Irigaray's own elemental materialism, which implies that sexuate difference colours our perception but does not cleave it down a radical difference in kind. We can therefore accept and develop Irigaray's contribution to ecophenomenology without her insistence on radical sexuate duality.
AB - This article provides an interpretation of the ecophenomenological dimension of Luce Irigaray's work. It shows that Irigaray builds upon Heidegger's recovery of the ancient sense of nature as physis, self-emergence into presence. But, against Heidegger, Irigaray insists that self-emergence is a material process undergone by fluid elements, such as air and water, of which the world is basically composed. This article shows that this “elemental materialist” position need not conflict with modern science. However, the article criticises Irigaray's claim that men and women inhabit radically different sexuate worlds. Although this claim has some phenomenological basis, ultimately it is undercut by Irigaray's own elemental materialism, which implies that sexuate difference colours our perception but does not cleave it down a radical difference in kind. We can therefore accept and develop Irigaray's contribution to ecophenomenology without her insistence on radical sexuate duality.
U2 - 10.1080/00071773.2014.960747
DO - 10.1080/00071773.2014.960747
M3 - Journal article
VL - 46
SP - 117
EP - 131
JO - Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology
JF - Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology
SN - 0007-1773
IS - 2
ER -