Corporeal Generosity

Rosalyn Diprose

Description

Rosalyn Diprose contends that generosity is not just a human virtue, but it is an openness to others that is critical to our existence, sociality, and social formation. Her theory challenges the accepted model of generosity as a common character trait that guides a person to give something they possess away to others within an exchange economy. This book places giving in the realm of ontology, as well as the area of politics and social production, as it promotes ways to foster social relations that generate sexual, cultural, and stylistic differences. The analyses in the book theorize generosity in terms of intercorporeal relations where the self is given to others. Drawing primarily on the philosophy of Nietzsche, Merleau-Ponty, and Levinas, and offering critical interpretations of feminist philosophers such as Beauvoir and Butler, the author builds a politically sensitive notion of generosity.
Acknowledgments

Introduction: Introducing Generosity

Part I. Giving Identity and Difference

1. Nietzsche and the Pathos of Distance

2. Giving Sexed Corporeality before the Law

3. Performing Body-Identity through the Other

Part II. Generosity and the Politics of Affectivity

4. Erotic Generosity and Its Limits

5. Affectivity and Social Power: From Melancholia to Generosity

6. Sexuality and the Clinical Encounter

Part III. Generosity and Community (Trans)Formation

7. Thinking through Radical Generosity with Levinas

8. Truth, Cultural Difference, and Decolonization

9. Generosity, Community, and Politics

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Épistémologie
• Philosophie de l'esprit
• Éthique et morale
• Ethique et morale
• Philosophy of mind
• Epistémologie
• Epistémologie
• Epistémologie

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791488843
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

c o r p o r e a l g e n e r o s i t y on giving with nietzsche, merleau-ponty, and levinas

rosalyn diprose

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Corporeal Generosity On Giving with Nietzsche, Merleau-Ponty, and Levinas

SUNY series in Gender Theory

Tina Chanter, Editor

C ORPOREAL  G ENEROSITY

O N  G IVINGWITH  N IETZSCHE , M ERLEAU -P ONTY , AND L EVINAS

ROSALYN DIPROSE

S U N Y P T A T E N I V E R S I T Y O F E W O R K R E S S

Published by S U N Y P , TATE NIVERSITY OF EW ORK RESS A LBANY

© 2002 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production, Laurie Searl Marketing, Jennifer Giovani-Giovani

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Diprose, Rosalyn. Corporeal generosity : on giving with Nietzsche, Merleau-Ponty, and Levinas / Rosalyn Diprose. p. cm. — (SUNY series in gender theory) Includes index. ISBN 0-7914-5321-9 (alk. paper). — ISBN 0-7914-5322-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Generosity. 2. Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844–1900. 3. Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, 1908–1961. 4. Levinas, Emmanuel. I. Title. II. Series.

BJ1533.G4 D49 2002 179'.9—dc21

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2001049421

Part I

Part II

Part III

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Introducing Generosity

Giving Identity and Difference 1 Nietzsche and the Pathos of Distance 2 Giving Sexed Corporeality before the Law 3 Performing Body-Identity through the Other

Generosity and the Politics of Affectivity 4 Erotic Generosity and Its Limits 5 Affectivity and Social Power: From Melancholia to Generosity 6 Sexuality and the Clinical Encounter

Generosity and Community (Trans)Formation 7 Thinking through Radical Generosity with Levinas 8 Truth, Cultural Difference, and Decolonization 9 Generosity, Community, and Politics

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Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

Corporeal Generosity

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Corporeal Generosity

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Acknowledgments

Some of the material in this book has been revised from the following original publications: “Nietzsche and the Pathos of Distance,” in Paul Patton, ed.,and Political TheoryNietzsche, Feminism “Giv-, London: Routledge, 1993; ing Corporeality against the Law,” inAustralian Feminist Studies 11:24 (Oc- tober 1996) (http://www.tandf.co.uk);“Performing Body-Identity,” inWritings on DanceBetween Love and Desire,”(summer 1994–1995);“Generosity: , 11–12 inHypatia13:1 (1998), “Sexuality and the ClinicalIndiana University Press; Encounter,” in M. Shildrick and J. Price, eds.,Vital Signs: Feminist Reconfigura- tions of the Bio/logical Body, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998; “What Is (Feminist) Philosophy?” inHypatiaIndiana University15:2 (2000), Press. I thank the publishers and editors for permission to use revised ver- sions of this material here. The research and writing of chapters 4 and 5 were undertaken with the assistance of Australian Research Council Small Grants, chapter 4 while I was a Visiting Fellow in the Philosophy Department at Warwick University. The completion of the book was made possible with the assistance of a Humanities Research Program Writing Fellowship from the University of New South Wales (UNSW). I am grateful to these programs and to my own School of Philosophy at UNSW for granting me the time and space to undertake this work. In particular, I would like to thank Tina Chanter, the series editor, for her friendship, and her and Jane Bunker and Laurie Searl at State University of New York Press for their advice and support during the publication of this manuscript. The advice of State University of New York Press’ anonymous readers has also been very helpful in the final revi- sion of the manuscript.

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Corporeal Generosity

This book has been written over a number of years and has undergone a number of revisions. During that time, my research has benefited from the inspiration, support, and guidance of a number of friends and colleagues, including Keith Ansell-Pearson, Barbara Baird, Christine Battersby, Jennifer Biddle, Constantin Boundas, Penelope Deutscher, Rachel Jones, Paul Komesaroff, Alphonso Lingis, Genevieve Lloyd, Kelly Oliver, Linnell Secomb, Cathryn Vasseleu, and Ewa Ziarek. Less visible but no less important has been the input of friends from outside of academia, those whose provoca- tions grace the pages of this book. Good-humored debates with postgradu- ate students, especially Anne Gearside, Erika Kerruish, Matthew Paull,Thomas Martin, Karen Williams, and Sarah Rice, have often made me think again. For their ongoing intellectual generosity and friendship, I particularly want to thank Robyn Ferrell, Moira Gatens, Paul Patton, and Nikki Sullivan, who contributed to this book from beginning to end in ways beyond my ability to recount. Special thanks to my family, who continues to provide the inspiration for my writing, even though they may not recognize themselves in it. This work was always too late, though, to properly acknowledge the gift of friendship given me by Megan Fisher. It is in retrospect that I dedicate this book to her.