L.127.15130 Giving birth and being born: perspectives in feminist and political philosophy

Lehrende: Katja Cicigoj

Veranstaltungsart: Seminar

Orga-Einheit: Philosophie

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Unterrichtssprache: Deutsch

Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl: - | 40

Literatur:
Literaturangaben werden in der ersten Seminarsitzung gemacht.

Kommentar:
Until recently, being born and giving birth have only rarely been given serious consideration
in the history of Western philosophy. Feminist thinkers, on the other hand, have been
devoting considerable attention to women’s capacity for giving birth, conceiving it either as
the opportunity for a non-androcentric approach to ethics, or a crucial factor in the historical
oppression of women. Recent societal and technological developments have in turn enabled
relatively novel forms of being born and giving birth, from transgender pregnancies to
surrogate motherhood, emphasising the social and techno-mediated, as opposed to the solely
biological, nature of these phenomena. This can present us with the opportunity of taking a
fresh look at the philosophical implications of phenomena that were often thought to be
simply natural functions. In this seminar we will touch upon the existential and
phenomenological implications of giving birth and being born, but we will especially focus
upon implications for ethical and political philosophy. One of the guiding questions of the
seminar will be: how can we think of justice and equality in relation to phenomena so
inherently full of dependencies and asymmetries?
In the seminar we will read and discuss various texts from political philosophers, such as
Hannah Arendt and Paolo Virno, feminist philosophers, such as Adriana Cavarero and Alison
Stone, and feminist and other critical theorists, such as Shulamith Firestone, Sophie Lewis or
Hortense Spillers. A complete list of readings will be provided in the first seminar session.