To be Two

In this work, French philosopher Luce Irigaray continues to explore the issue central to her thought: the feminist redefinition of being and identity. For Irigaray, the notion of the individual is twinned with a reconceived notion of difference, or alterity. What does it mean to be some "one"? How can identity be created or discovered, in relation to others? In "To Be Two" Irigaray gives clarity to her project, grounding it in relation to such major figures as Sartre, Levinas, and Merleau-Ponty. Yet at the same time, she enriches her discussion with an attempt to bring the elements - earth, fire, water - into philosophical discourse. Even the polarities of heaven and earth come to play in this text.