The Ethics of Vulnerability: A Feminist Analysis of Social Life and Practice

ISBN-13: 9780415656139 / Angielski / Twarda / 2014 / 202 str.

Erinn Gilson

Opis

As concerns about violence, war, terrorism, and the definition of life have garnered attention in philosophy, the concept of vulnerability has become a shared reference point in these discussions. Vulnerability is emphasized not just because it is a fundamental part of the human condition, but also because it is regarded as having significant ethical import. Yet, very little attention is paid to how we think, talk, and feel about vulnerability and even less theoretical effort has been devoted to elaborating a genuine concept of vulnerability. The main problem with common presumptions about vulnerability is that they are almost exclusively negative, equating the state with weakness, dependency, powerlessness, deficiency, and passivity.

This book provides a systematic account of the ethics of vulnerability, critiquing this reductively negative view, demonstrating how its persistence prevents vulnerability from possessing the normative value many theorists wish it to have, and articulating in instead a richer, more nuanced theory. Gilson then applies this account to the debates over pornography in feminism, thus showing its value for fraught ethical and political issues.

Recenzje

"In this finely crafted analysis of vulnerability, Gilson integrates insights from philosophers such as Merleau-Ponty and Deleuze with the feminist analyses of Margaret Walker, Judith Butler, and Hélène Cixous to present a radical reinterpretation of the concept. Gilson's analysis displaces the many constricting dichotomies associated with the concept of vulnerability, such as weakness/strength, passivity/activity, dependence/independence, and femininity/masculinity.  This revised account opens up possibilities of ethical response and social critique hitherto obscured. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through professionals/practitioners."--S. A. Mason, CHOICE

Spis treści

Introduction Part 1: The Normative Significance of Vulnerability  1. Responsibility for the Vulnerable  2. Thinking Vulnerability with Judith Butler  Part 2: Avoidance and Disavowal 3. The Ideal of an Invulnerability  4. Risk and Control: The Formation of Entrepreneurial Subjectivity  Part 3: Rethinking Vulnerability  5. Vulnerability Beyond Opposition  6. Vulnerability in Social Life: Sexuality and Pornography Conclusion

O autorze

Erinn C. Gilson is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Florida, USA. Her research focuses on ethics and social thought from a feminist perspective and informed by contemporary European philosophy. She is currently exploring issues surrounding food ethics and the question of the significance of ethical failure.