Title

A Deleuzian feminism: Philosophy, theology and ethics

Date of Award

8-2006

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Religion

Advisor(s)

Gregg Lambert

Keywords

Feminism, Philosophy, Theology, Ethics, Gilles Deleuze

Subject Categories

Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion | Women's Studies

Abstract

This dissertation is at once a critique of the historical development of Second Wave feminist theory and a proposal for a new image of feminist thought which finds its point of departure beyond the sexual binarism and reactive formations of identity that have traditionally framed this theoretical project. A Deleuzian Feminism offers a conceptual field in which the actualizations of woman may be viewed as singular events or unique conducts of embodied existence while feminist thought may be seen as the means to a more than personal life. Within this conceptual field sexual difference is no longer tied to structures of homogeneity but to heterogeneous assemblages that are inventions both of immediate encounters and the network of interdependent assemblages that make all experience possible. Far from being obligated to a specific order or held hostage to the functioning of a single signifier, sexuality is now an effect, an affect, a production of intensive relations which does not precede or exceed its immediate expression. In this sense "woman" becomes an experiment, a possibility, a possible world, while feminist ethics becomes an ethics of encounter focused on a sustainable future for both human society and the global ecosphere.

Access

Surface provides description only. Full text is available to ProQuest subscribers. Ask your Librarian for assistance.

http://libezproxy.syr.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1251829351&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=3739&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS