Life, death and (inter)subjectivity: realism and recognition in continental feminism

Abstract

I begin with the assumption that a philosophically significant tension exists today in feminist philosophy of religion between those subjects who seek to become divine and those who seek their identity in mutual recognition. My critical engagement with the ambiguous assertions of Luce Irigaray seeks to demonstrate, on the one hand, that a woman needs to recognize her own identity but, on the other hand, that each subject whether male or female must struggle in relation to the other in order to maintain realism about life and death. No one can avoid the recognition that we are each given life but each of us also dies. In addition, I raise a more general, philosophical problem for analytic philosophers who attempt to read Continental philosophy of religion: how should philosophers interpret deliberately ambiguous assertions? For example, what does Irigaray mean in asserting, 'Divinity is what we need to become free, autonomous, sovereign'? To find an answer, I turn to the distinctively French readings of the Hegelian struggle for recognition which have preoccupied Continental philosophers especially since the first half of the last century. I explore the struggle for mutual recognition between women and men who must face the reality of life and death in order to avoid the projection of their fear of mortality onto the other sex. This includes a critical look at Irigaray's account of subjectivity and divinity. I turn to the French philosopher Michèle Le Doeuff in order to shift the focus from divinity to intersubjectivity. I conclude that taking seriously the struggle for mutual recognition between subjects forces contemporary philosophers of religion to be realist in their living and dying. With this in mind, the lesson from the Continent for philosophy of religion is that we must not stop yearning for recognition. Indeed, we must even risk our autonomy/divinity in seeking to recognize intersubjectivity.

Lived experiences of diversity in group analytic training and as a qualified group analyst: an autoethnographic study

“…In our mutual struggle for recognition, choice suddenly became real. Anderson (2006) uses the word yearning to emphasize a common passion for egalitarian reciprocity. Yearning is shared across class, gender, race and sexual practice.…”

Divinity, Incarnation and Intersubjectivity: On Ethical Formation and Spiritual Practice

“…Readers of this research bulletin should bear in mind an argument which I have developed elsewhere that we, humans, cannot on our own become divine (at least in the Irigarayan ‘philosophical’ sense), whether incarnate in a female or male body (Anderson forthcoming, 2006). Furthermore, Sarah Coakley’s claim that my own project for a feminist philosophy of religion eclipses ‘any intimacy with the divine’ should be seen in relation to my (perhaps in part misguided) attempt to avoid the ethical danger of being, in Le Doeuff’s words, ‘a nothingness in the eyes of the other’ 11 .…”

“…11 11 For my recent critical assessment of Irigaray’s urging that ‘we become divine’, see Anderson (forthcoming). Here I employ Le Doeuff’s account of self‐other as a partial response to a criticism that I maintain a epistemological distance from the reality of the divine, instead of seeking an ‘intensified intimacy with the divine’; for the latter, see Sarah Coakley (2005), 516–18.…”