Rethinking Birth and Maternity as Philosophical Categories: Hannah Arendt's Notion Of Natality In Dialogue With Contemporary Feminist Thought

重新思考出生和母性作为哲学范畴：汉娜·阿伦特的出生概念与当代女权主义思想的对话

• 批准号: 2637012
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Kingston University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2637012
• 关键词: Rethinking; Birth; Maternity; Philosophical; Categories

The aim of my project is to contest the "thanatological" turn in twentieth-century European philosophy by rethinking "birth" and "maternity" as philosophical categories. I propose to do this by developing Hannah Arendt's notion of natality with further resources from contemporary feminist thought.Mortality has been conceived as a constitutive part of human existence since at least the thought of the ancient Greeks but in the twentieth century various continental philosophers foregrounded it again, offering different interpretations of death (Heidegger 1927, Lévinas 1992, Derrida 1993). In this context Hannah Arendt (1958) proposes the alternative paradigm of 'natality'. She interprets the meaning of birth in terms of 'initiative', attending to the bodily and plural reality of human existence. Arendt's proposed shift paved the way for a new feminist philosophical current concentrating on the analysis of the notions of gender, birth and maternity, most notably in the work of Cavarero, Irigaray, Kristeva, Ruddick and Duden.My research aims to investigate why, despite the success of these feminist positions, there is still a tendency to reject birth and maternity as philosophical categories. How is this rejection connected to the return of thanatology in twentieth century philosophy and with an uncritical sexual differentiation of humankind? What challenge may the categories of birth and maternity pose to the Western philosophical tradition?This research will address these questions by interpreting birth and maternity not as mere natural events, restricted in time and linked to an uncritical vision of femininity, but as authentic existential possibilities, to be elevated to philosophical categories. It will investigate how birth and maternally-oriented philosophical thought challenge traditional philosophical and political categories, such as the notions of autonomy, freedom, and sovereignty and will develop a philosophical approach that allows us to focus on the interdependence and the relationality of the human condition.

我的项目的目的是通过重新思考“出生”和“母性”作为哲学范畴来挑战二十世纪欧洲哲学的“死亡学”转向，我建议通过利用当代女权主义者的进一步资源发展汉娜·阿伦特的出生概念来做到这一点。至少从希腊古人的思想开始，死亡就被认为是人类存在的一个组成部分，但在二十世纪，不同的大陆哲学家再次强调了它，对死亡提出了不同的解释。 （Heidegger 1927，Lévinas 1992，Derrida 1993）在这种背景下，Hannah Arendt（1958）提出了“出生”的替代范式，她用“主动性”来解释出生的含义，关注人类的身体和多元现实。阿伦特提出的转变为新的女权主义哲学潮流铺平了道路，该潮流集中于对性别、出生和母性概念的分析。最引人注目的是卡瓦罗罗、伊里加雷、克里斯蒂娃、鲁迪克和杜登的作品。我的研究旨在调查为什么尽管这些女权主义立场取得了成功，但仍然存在拒绝生育和母性作为哲学范畴的倾向，这种拒绝是如何联系在一起的。死亡学在二十世纪哲学中的回归，以及对人类不加批判的性别分化，出生和母性的范畴会对西方哲学传统构成什么挑战？本研究将通过解释出生和母性而不是解释这些问题来解决这些问题。纯粹的自然事件，在时间上受到限制，与对女性气质的不加批判的看法有关，但作为真实的存在可能性，被提升到哲学范畴。它将研究出生和以母性为导向的哲学思想如何挑战传统的哲学和政治范畴。自治、自由和主权的概念，并将发展一种哲学方法，使我们能够关注人类状况的相互依存和相互关系。