Luce Irigaray

Criticizes → 7

• Plato

  criticised

  In Speculum (1974), ‘Plato’s Hystera’, Irigaray read the cave allegory as a womb, arguing that Platonic metaphysics turns the maternal origin into a realm of mere copies. L. Irigaray, Speculum de l’autre femme (1974), part III “L’hystéra de Platon”

  Evidence: AI draft

  Plato › 428–348 BCE

• Sigmund Freud influenced by

  influenced by

  A trained psychoanalyst, Irigaray read the philosophical tradition as Freud reads symptoms, for what it represses of the feminine (Speculum de l’autre femme, 1974). L. Irigaray, Speculum de l’autre femme (1974); Ce sexe qui n’en est pas un (1977); M. Whitford, Luce Irigaray: Philosophy in the Feminine (1991)

  Evidence: AI draft

  criticised

  Irigaray objected that Freud’s lecture on femininity takes male sexuality as the norm and describes woman only as lack (Speculum of the Other Woman, 1974, part I). L. Irigaray, Speculum de l’autre femme (1974), part I “La tache aveugle d’un vieux rêve de symétrie”; S. Freud, “Die Weiblichkeit” (Neue Folge der Vorlesungen, 1933)

  Evidence: AI draft

  Sigmund Freud › 1856–1939

• Martin Heidegger

  criticised

  In L’oubli de l’air chez Martin Heidegger (1983) Irigaray argued that Heidegger’s thinking of Being forgets air, the elemental, material medium that sustains it. L. Irigaray, L’oubli de l’air chez Martin Heidegger (1983)

  Evidence: AI draft

  Martin Heidegger › 1889–1976

• Jacques Lacan influenced by

  influenced by

  Irigaray, trained in Lacan’s École freudienne, took over his view that the subject is constituted in language and asked which sex that language serves (Speculum, 1974). L. Irigaray, Speculum de l’autre femme (1974); Ce sexe qui n’en est pas un (1977); M. Whitford, Luce Irigaray: Philosophy in the Feminine (1991)

  Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO

  criticised

  Irigaray argued that Lacan’s symbolic order, organised around the phallus, admits woman only as lack (‘Così fan tutti’, in Ce sexe qui n’en est pas un, 1977). L. Irigaray, “Così fan tutti”, in Ce sexe qui n’en est pas un (1977); Speculum de l’autre femme (1974)

  Evidence: AI draft

  Jacques Lacan › 1901–1981

• Emmanuel Levinas

  criticised

  Irigaray objected that Levinas’s ‘feminine’ remains the other of a male subject, reduced to the caress and to fecundity in the son (‘The Fecundity of the Caress’, 1984). L. Irigaray, “La fécondité de la caresse”, in Éthique de la différence sexuelle (1984); “Questions to Emmanuel Levinas” (1991)

  Evidence: AI draft

  Emmanuel Levinas › 1906–1995

• Simone de Beauvoir

  criticised

  Irigaray objected that Beauvoir’s demand for equality measures women by a male standard, whereas sexual difference must be recognised (‘Equal or Different?’, 1986, in Je, tu, nous, 1990). L. Irigaray, “Égales ou différentes?” (1986), in Je, tu, nous. Pour une culture de la différence (1990)

  Evidence: AI draft

  Simone de Beauvoir › 1908–1986

• Maurice Merleau-Ponty

  criticised

  Reading ‘The Intertwining – The Chiasm’, Irigaray objected that Merleau-Ponty’s flesh privileges vision and forgets its maternal, tactile origin (Éthique de la différence sexuelle, 1984). L. Irigaray, “L’invisible de la chair. Lecture de Merleau-Ponty, Le visible et l’invisible, ‘L’entrelacs – le chiasme’”, in Éthique de la différence sexuelle (1984)

  Evidence: AI draft

  Maurice Merleau-Ponty › 1908–1961