Embodiment has been a central theme in feminist philosophy from its early days. The essays selected here illuminate how the topic of embodiment in general has been broached over the years by Hypatia authors, how it has developed, and what topics have received the most focus. Hypatia has been the site of some of the most innovative feminist theorizing on this subject, from the groundbreaking early work of Luce Irigaray and Ann Ferguson to the innovative developments of Kelly Oliver, Lois McNay, Margaret Whitford, and Alison Stone, just to name a few.
There are many ways to define what embodiment has meant in feminist philosophy, and this collection showcases the expanse of issues that the concept of embodiment has engendered. In general, embodiment has signaled the idea that there is a constitutive relationship of the lived body to thought, to knowledge, and to ethics, taking leave of the modern idea that bodies can be left behind as the mind does its work. Such dualism was rarely allowed women, after all. But, beyond thinking our way past dualism, feminist philosophers have also sought new ways to conceptualize the materiality of bodies, the discursive nature of embodied experience, and the contested figure of the maternal body. Within feminist theory itself there has occurred a lively debate over dualism, naturalism, essentialism, and gender normativity in relationship to embodiment.
Read Linda Martin Alcoff’s complete Introduction here.
Read the Embodiment Virtual Issue here.
The Philosopher's Eye 