Laura Hengehold - Simone De Beauvoirs Philosophy of Individuation

Simone de Beauvoirs Philosophy of Individuation

Simone de Beauvoirs Philosophy of Individuation

The Problem of The Second Sex

LAURA HENGEHOLD

EDINBURGH

University Press

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Laura Hengehold, 2017

Edinburgh University Press Ltd

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ISBN 978 1 4744 1887 4 (hardback)

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ISBN 978 1 4744 1889 8 (epub)

The right of Laura Hengehold to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 (SI No. 2498).

Contents

Acknowledgements

Maybe every book is a silent conversation that picks up where voices leave off. A books singularity evolves according to multiple temporalities and I am sure many of my interlocutors did not know they were responding to one another by way of a problem that only appeared after many years, any more than they knew how much they sustained me in the act of writing. This book emerged between Cleveland and Paris and thus, between my networks in both cities. It works in part because of its gaps and failures, which are also the authors responsibility after friends have done everything possible to enhance its powers.

First, I want to recognise Case Western Reserve University for making possible the sabbatical year during which this book was written. I also want to thank Maggie Kaminski, John Orlock, and Peter Knox of the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities at CWRU for enabling me to present portions of this manuscript at several international Deleuze Studies conferences and for a research grant to finalise the manuscript. Anne Van Leeuwens thoughtful and imaginative approach to phenomenology gave me faith that this project had a future. She and Cheryl Toman enabled my sabbatical in countless practical ways; as did Shannon French, who gave her extraordinary administrative gifts to run our department in my absence. I am lucky to have such enthusiastic and supportive colleagues. Last but not least, Megan Weber offered moral support and outstanding editorial assistance.

My students were essential stimuli to thinking, particularly Tony Yanick, whose passion for Deleuze made it possible for me to justify over half a year working through Difference and Repetition; Jason Walsh, thanks to his determination to understand Spinoza and materialist philosophy of history; and k.c. Layton, for numerous thoughtful conversations testing both of our investments (or lack thereof) in the molar concept of woman. Brent Adkins and Andrew Cutrofello know how deeply I am indebted to them, not only for carefully reading all or most of this manuscript and others, but also for patiently and cheerfully enduring, via email, the near-daily roller coaster of my affects. In addition, Ryan Johnson, Audrey Wasser, Joe Hughes, and especially Jeff Bell were generous with their reading time and expertise on Deleuze, while I thank Ewa Ziarek and two anonymous readers at Edinburgh University Press for encouragement and specific improvements regarding the Introduction. I also benefited from the conversations, questions and ambiance at the Deleuze Studies conferences, even if I cannot remember or name everyone who contributed a few molecules.

To Seloua Luste Boulbina, Brahim Tissini and Sylvain Tessier for friendship and provocation in Paris, mille fois merci. To Kyoo Lee, who like the incorporeal event moves in all directions at once but is rarely actualised in a geographical state of affairs, there are not enough languages to express my appreciation for your experimental spirit. And likewise to colleagues and friends in Cleveland: particularly Kenny Fountain, Renee Holland-Golphin, Matt Bakaitis, Andrew Dessecker and Joe Cairnes. Whether or not they know it, my family is an imperceptible part of this project, so I do not want to overlook whatever support we have been and may yet be for one other. Finally, for her optimism, her sincerity, and her extraordinary professionalism, I am deeply grateful to have worked with Carol Macdonald at Edinburgh University Press, as well as with James Dale and Christine Barton, who brought this text to material fruition.

Excerpt(s) from The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir and translated by Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier, translation copyright 2009 by Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

From The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, translated by Borde/Malovany-Chevallier.

Published by Jonathan Cape.

Reprinted by permission of The Random House Group Limited.

Abbreviations

References are to English texts and translations. In some cases, corresponding pages to the original French edition are given after a / (slash) and publication data may be found in Works Cited.

Chapter 1

Introduction: Blocked Singularities

One is not born, but rather becomes, woman (SS 283/2:13). On ne nat pas femme, on le devient. Simone de Beauvoirs statement puts becoming at the heart of her ontology. However, we tend to focus on what becoming a woman might mean, taking the meaning of becoming as self-evident. We are not born philosophers either, and just as womanhood may be something we never actually achieve, becoming a philosopher is not something that happens once and for all. A focus on becoming unsettles even our confidence as to what being born might mean.