Natality and finitude PDF
Preview Natality and finitude
PhilosoPhy o ’ B Reorienting our approach to y fundamental questions about r n human existence e “An extraordinary Philosophers are accustomed to thinking book, beautifully about human existence as finite and deathbound. Anne o’Byrne focuses written, well argued.” instead on birth as a way to make sense —Peg BirminghAm, of being alive. Building on the work of heidegger, Dilthey, Arendt, and nancy, DePaul University o’Byrne discusses how the world n becomes ours and how meaning emerges a from our relations to generations past and t a to come. themes such as creation, time, l inheritance, birth and action, embodiment, i t biological determinism, and cloning y Natality and Finitude anchor this sensitive and powerful a analysis. o’Byrne’s thinking advances n and deepens important discussions at the d intersections of feminism, continental F philosophy, philosophy of religion, and i n social and political thought. i t Cover illUstrAtion: u Anne o’Byrne is Assistant Professor in Daniel richardson, d A Neologism, 2009 Philosophy at stony Brook University. e studies in Continental thought John sallis, editor ANNE O’BYRNE Natality and Finitude OBYRNE_final_pages.indd 1 7/28/10 2:39:19 PM StudieS in Continental thought John Sallis, editor Consulting Editors Robert Bernasconi J. N. Mohanty Rudolph Bernet Mary Rawlinson John D. Caputo Tom Rockmore David Carr Calvin O. Schrag Edward S. Casey †Reiner Schürmann Hubert Dreyfus Charles E. Scott Don Ihde Thomas Sheehan David Farrell Krell Robert Sokolowski Lenore Langsdorf Bruce W. Wilshire Alphonso Lingis David Wood William L. McBride OBYRNE_final_pages.indd 2 7/28/10 2:39:20 PM Natality and Finitude 5 A O’B nne yrne Indiana University Press Bloomington and Indianapolis OBYRNE_final_pages.indd 3 7/28/10 2:39:20 PM This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, Indiana 47404-3797 USA www.iupress.indiana.edu Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail [email protected] © 2010 by Anne O’Byrne All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, elec- tronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. • The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data O’Byrne, Anne E. (Anne Elizabeth), [date] Natality and finitude / Anne O’Byrne. p. cm. — (Studies in Continental thought) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-253-35531-7 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-253-22241-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Birth (Philosophy) 2. Finite, The. 3. Philosophical anthropology. 4. Continental philosophy. I. Title. BD443.O29 2010 128—dc22 2010009382 1 2 3 4 5 15 14 13 12 11 10 OBYRNE_final_pages.indd 4 7/28/10 2:39:20 PM to Michael and Sophia OBYRNE_final_pages.indd 5 7/28/10 2:39:20 PM OBYRNE_final_pages.indd 6 7/28/10 2:39:20 PM Contents Acknowledgments ix List of Abbreviations xi one Introduction: Sophocles’ Wisdom 1 two Historicity and the Metaphysics of Existence: Heidegger 15 three Generating Life, Generating Meaning: Dilthey 46 four Philosophy and Action: Arendt 78 five On the Threshold of Finitude: Nancy 107 afterword What Will the Clone Make of Us? 148 Notes 165 Bibliography 185 Index 197 OBYRNE_final_pages.indd 7 7/28/10 2:39:20 PM OBYRNE_final_pages.indd 8 7/28/10 2:39:20 PM ACknowledgments It is only to be expected that a work that revolves around the thought of being-with should also be a work of thinking-with. I’m very glad to have the opportunity here to offer my gratitude to the many people who have helped bring this volume to be, whether their thinking- and being-with took the form of reading portions of the work, suggesting resources, offering critiques, helping with transla- tions, editing, catching mistakes, supplying encouragement in general or specific ways, minding me, giving me a quiet room and uninter- rupted time to work, nudging my thinking further, providing advice, putting up with my blethering, or reminding me in one way or another of the point of it all. They include: Ralph Acampora, Amy Baehr, Jay Barksdale, Michael Beck, Sophia Beck, Jay Bernstein, Peg Birmingham, Karen Burke, Ed Casey, Richard Copobianco, Benjamin Crowe, Wayne Furman, Peter Gratton, Lisa Guenther, Lawrence Hatab, Gregg Horowitz, Tim Hyde, Nathan Leoce-Schappin, Nectarios Limnatis, Leslie MacAvoy, Arvind-Pal Mandair, Eduardo Mendieta, Marie-Eve Morin, Dee Mortensen, Jean-Luc Nancy, Eric Nelson, Helen Ngo, Marie O’Byrne, Kelly Oliver, John Ongley, David Pettigrew, François Raffoul, Friederike Rese, Bob Richardson, Sabina Sawhney, Bob Scharff, Dennis Schmidt, David Smith, and Aukje Van Auden. Thanks are also due to organizations who have given me the occa- sion to present parts of this work: the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, the Society for Phenomenology and the Human Sciences, the International Association for Philosophy and Literature, the International Philosophical Seminar, the Heidegger Circle, the Arendt Circle, PhiloSophia, the Society for European Philosophy, and New York Society for Women in Philosophy. I am also grateful to my colleagues in the departments of Philosophy and Religion at Hofstra University and in the Philosophy Department at Stony Brook University. Finally, I would like to thank Stony Brook University and Hofstra University for granting periods of leave, which gave me time to write, and to the New York Public Library, which gave me space. OBYRNE_final_pages.indd 9 7/28/10 2:39:20 PM
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