Offers essays demonstrating the critical relevance of Irigaray's thought of sexual difference for addressing contemporary ethical and social issues.Engaging the World explores Luce Irigaray's writings on sexual difference, deploying the resources of her work to rethink philosophical concepts and commitments and expose new possibilities of vitality in relationship to nature, others, and to one's self. The contributors present a range of perspectives from multiple disciplines such as philosophy, literature, education, evolutionary theory, sound technology, science and technology, anthropology, and psychoanalysis. They place Irigaray in conversation with thinkers as diverse as Charles Darwin, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Gilles Deleuze, René Decartes, and Avital Ronell. While every essay challenges Irigaray's thought in some way, each one also reveals the transformative effects of her thought across multiple domains of contemporary life.
Mary C. Rawlinson is Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Literature at Stony Brook University, State University of New York. She is the coeditor (with Ellen K. Feder and Emily Zakin) of Derrida and Feminism: Recasting the Question of Woman and (with Sabrina L. Hom and Serene J. Khader) of Thinking with Irigaray, also published by SUNY Press.
AcknowledgmentsIntroductionMary C. RawlinsonI. TIME, SPACE, AND THE UNIVERSAL In Search for the Mother Through the Looking Glass: On Time, Origins, and Beginnings in Plato and IrigarayFanny SöderbäckPlace, Interval: Irigaray and RonellRebecca HillFurther Speculations: Time and Difference in Speculum de l’autre femme Anne van LeeuwenGame Change: Philosophy after IrigarayMary C. RawlinsonII. LANGUAGE, ART, AND WRITING Irigaray and Kristeva on Anguish in ArtElaine P. MillerA Love Letter from Beyond the Grave: Irigaray, Nothingness and La femme n’existe pas Claire PotterWonder and Écriture: Descartes and Irigaray, Writing at IntervalsPerry ZurnCreating Inter-Sexuate Inter-Subjectivity in the Classroom? Luce Irigaray’s Linguistic Research in Its Latest IterationGail SchwabIII. SCIENCE, CULTURE, AND TECHNOLOGY Irigaray and Darwin on Sexual Difference: Some ReflectionsElizabeth GroszWhat Kind of Science? Reading Irigaray with StengersMargherita LongToward a Feminist Epistemology of Sound: Refiguring Waves in Audio-Technical DiscourseTara RodgersLuce Irigaray and Anthropological ThoughtMary Beth MaderIV. PSYCHOANALYSIS IN PRACTICE Desire at the Threshold: "Vulvar Logic" and Intimacy between TwoCheryl Lynch LawlerGendering Drives: Amae, Philotes, and the Forgotten Mystery of Female AncestryBritt-Marie SchillerPsychoanalysis and Yoga: The Feminine and the Unconscious between East and WestSara BeardsworthList of ContributorsIndex
"The scholars' engagement with Irigaray's work, as described in this book, is a testament to her importance today, and in illustrating the continuing impact of Irigaray's work, this book makes a significant contribution to scholarship in contemporary feminist philosophy." — hypatia