Ann J. Cahill - Overcoming Objectification: A Carnal Ethics

A Carnal Ethics

First published 2011
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016

Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2011.

To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledges collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.

2011 Taylor & Francis

The right of Ann J. Cahill to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Cahill, Ann J.
Overcoming objectification : a carnal ethics / Ann J. Cahill.
p. cm. (Routledge research in gender and society ; 27)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Sex role. 2. WomenIdentity. 3. WomenSexual behavior.
4. Sex (Psychology) I. Title.
HQ1075.C34 2011
306.7082dc22
2010023373

ISBN 0-203-83584-0 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN13: 9780415882880 (hbk)

ISBN13: 9780203835845 (ebk)

In some philosophical circles, particularly those engaged with questions of sex, gender, and identity, a somewhat remarkable shift has occurred. The modern model of the autonomous, rational, disembodied self has been rejected; in its place stands a self marked by its own materiality, a self always and already embedded in a web of contexts and relationships. The body, as the site of difference and intersection, has been recognized as central to the processes of becoming that mark human subjects, rather than as a peripheral and sometimes obstructionist force that the disembodied soul or will must control. Flesh no longer stands in for passivity, or a regrettable association with the non-human world, but constitutes an openness to the other, a medium of transformation, and yes, a vulnerability without which subjects cannot come into being.

Given the radically challenging nature of this shift, it is not surprising to note that philosophical treatments of embodiment and intersubjectivity have continued to proliferate in recent decades. It is equally unsurprising to discover that there remain areas of inquiry not yet sufficiently transformed by the model of the incarnate, situated, sexually/ racially/geographically (etc.) marked subject. My philosophical interests center on these areas, particularly those that concern gender equality. Most broadly, my work seeks to answer the following questions: What happens to philosophical theories when subjectivity is oriented around the body? What flaws in previous theories show up? What new theoretical possibilities emerge? Most fascinating to me are bedrock concepts or approaches in feminist theory, those that have become central to feminist philosophizing but that have not necessarily been considered in relationship to relatively new theories regarding the body, the other, and the self. My role so far in feminist theory, then, has been that of a re-visitor: I explore that which has become familiar or assumed, seeking to reshape that territory by deploying relatively new conceptual tools. Such reshaping, I hope, results in insights that further clarify the ways in which sex/ gender inequality shapes contemporary culture and the lives of those who inhabit it.