Coming to Life Philosophies of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Mothering

by LaChance Adams, Sarah; Lundquist, Caroline R.

• ISBN13: 9780823244607
• ISBN10: 0823244601
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-11-13
• Publisher: Fordham University Press

Summary

Coming to Life does what too few scholarly works have dared to attempt: it takes seriously the philosophical significance of women's lived experience. Every woman, regardless of her own reproductive story, is touched by the beliefs and norms governing discourses about pregnancy, childbirth, and mothering. Thus, the concerns of this anthology are relevant to all women and central to any philosophical project that takes women's lives seriously. The volume's contributors engage in sustained reflection on women's experiences and on the beliefs, customs, and political institutions by which they are informed. They think beyond the traditional pro-choice/pro-life dichotomy, speak to the manifold nature of mothering by considering the experiences of adoptive mothers and birthmothers, and upend the belief that childrearing practices must be uniform, despite psychosexual differences in children. Many chapters reveal the radical shortcomings of conventional philosophical wisdom by placing trenchant assumptions about subjectivity, gender, power and virtue in dialogue with women's experience. All readers, regardless of their philosophical training and commitments, will find much of value in this volume.

Author Biography

Sarah LaChance Adams is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.

Caroline R. Lundquist is a Ph.D. candidate in Philosophy at the University of Oregon.