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NANCY TUANA, GENERAL EDITOR
This series consists of edited collections of essays, some
original and some previously published, offering feminist re
interpretations of the writings of major figures in the West
ern philosophical tradition. Devoted to the work of a single
philosopher, each volume contains essays covering the full
range of the philosopher's thought and representing the di
versity of approaches now being used by feminist critics.
Already published:
Nancy Tuana, ed., Feminist Interpretations of Plato (1994)
Margaret A. Simons, ed., Feminist Interpretations of Simone
de Beauvoir (1995)
Bonnie Honig, ed., Feminist Interpretations of Hannah Arendt
(1995)
Patricia Jagentowicz Mills, ed., Feminist Interpretations of
G. W. F. Hegel (1996)
Maria J. Falco, ed., Feminist Interpretations of Mary Wollstone
craft (1996)
Susan]. Hekman, ed., Feminist Interpretations of Michel Fou
cault (1996)
Nancy]. Holland, ed., Feminist Interpretations of Jacques Der
rida (1997)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Feminist interpretations of S¢ren Kierkegaard I edited by Celine Leon
and Sylvia Walsh.
p. cm. - (Re-reading the canon)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-271-01698-1 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN 0-271-01699-X (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Kierkegaard, S¢ren, 1813-1855. 2. Woman (Philosophy)
3. Feminist theory. 1. Leon, Celine, 1942- II. Walsh, Sylvia,
1937- . III. Series.
B4378.W65F45 1997
198'.g----dc21 96-49105
CIP
Copyright © 1997 The Pennsylvania State University
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press,
University Park, PA 16802-1003
It is the policy of The Pennsylvania State University Press to use acid-free paper for the
first printing of all clothbound books. Publications on uncoated stock satisfy the mini
mum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
IN MEMORIAM
MIYAKO MATSUKI
a dear friend
Contents
Preface ix
Nancy Tuana
Acknowledgments xiii
Abbreviations xv
Introduction 1
Celine Leon and Sylvia Walsh
1 The Heterosexual Imagination and Aesthetic Existence in
Kierkegaard's Either/Or, Part I 25
Wanda Warren Berry
2 Yes, A Woman Can Exist 51
Birgit Bertung
3 The Logic of S!llren Kierkegaard's Misogyny, 1854--1855 69
Julia Watkin
4 Woman-Bashing in Kierkegaard's "In Vino Veritas": A
Reinscription of Plato's Symposium 83
Robert L. Perkins
5 (A) Woman's Place Within the Ethical 103
Celine Leon
6 An Aparte on Repetition 131
Sylviane Agacinski
viii Contents
7 The No Woman's Land of Kierkegaardian Exceptions 147
Celine Uon
8 Almost Eamesrness? Autobiographical Reading, Feminist
Re-Reading, and Kierkegaard's Concluding Unscientific
Postscript 175
Mark Lloyd Taylor
9 On "Feminine" and "Masculine" Forms of Despair 203
Sylvia Walsh
10 Kierkegaard and the Feminine Self 217
Leslie A. Howe
11 The Kierkegaardian Feminist 249
Jane Duran
12 Subjectivity Versus Objectivity: Kierkegaard's Postscript and
Feminist Epistemology 267
Sylvia Walsh
13 The Silent Woman in Kierkegaard's Later Religious Writings 287
Wanda Warren Berry
14 Amatory Cures for Material Dis-ease: A Kristevian Reading
of The Sickness unto Death 307
Tamsin Lorraine
Select Bibliography 329
Contributors 335
Index 339
Preface
Take into your hands any history of philosophy text. You will find com~
piled therein the "classics" of modern philosophy. Since these texts are
often designed for use in undergraduate classes, the editor is likely to offer
an introduction in which the reader is informed that these selections
represent the perennial questions of philosophy. The student is to assume
that she or he is about to explore the timeless wisdom of the greatest
minds of Western philosophy. No one calls attention to the fact that the
philosophers are all men.
Though women are omitted from the canons of philosophy, these texts
inscribe the nature of woman. Sometimes the philosopher speaks directly
about woman, delineating her proper role, her abilities and inabilities,
her desires. Other times the message is indirect-a passing remark hint
ing at woman's emotionality, irrationality, unreliability.
This process of definition occurs in far more subtle ways when the
central concepts of philosophy-reason and justice, those characteristics
that are taken to define us as human-are associated with traits histori
cally identified with masculinity. If the "man" of reason must learn to
control or overcome traits identified as feminine-the body, the emo
tions, the passions-then the realm of rationality will be one reserved
primarily for men,l with grudging entrance to those few women who are
capable of transcending their femininity.
Feminist philosophers have begun to look critically at the canonized
texts of philosophy and have concluded that the discourses of philosophy
are not gender-neutral. Philosophical narratives do not offer a universal
perspective, but rather privilege some experiences and beliefs over others.
These experiences and beliefs permeate all philosophical theories
x Preface
whether they be aesthetic or epistemological, moral or metaphysical. Yet
this fact has often been neglected by those studying the traditions of
philosophy. Given the history of canon formation in Western philosophy,
the perspective most likely to be privileged is that of upperlclass, white
males. Thus, to be fully aware of the impact of gender biases, it is imperal
tive that we relread the canon with attention to the ways in which philosl
ophers' assumptions concerning gender are embedded within their
theories.
This new series, RelReading the Canon, is designed to foster this process
of reevaluation. Each volume will offer feminist analyses of the theories
of a selected philosopher. Since feminist philosophy is not monolithic in
method or content, the essays are also selected to illustrate the variety of
perspectives within feminist criticism and highlight some of the control
versies within feminist scholarship.
In this series, feminist lenses will be focused on the canonical texts of
Western philosophy, both those authors who have been part of the tradil
tional canon, as well as those philosophers whose writings have more
recently gained attention within the philosophical community. A glance
at the list of volumes in the series will reveal an immediate gender bias of
the canon: Arendt, Aristotle, de Beauvoir, Derrida, Descartes, Foucault,
Hegel, Hume, Kant, Locke, Marx, Mill, Nietzsche, Plato, Rousseau, Wittl
genstein, Wollstonecraft. There are all too few women included, and
those few who do appear have been added only recently. In creating this
series, it is not my intention to reify the current canon of philosophical
thought. What is and is not included within the canon during a particul
lar historical period is a result of many factors. Although no canonization
of texts will include all philosophers, no canonization of texts that eXI
elude all but a few women can offer an accurate representation of the
history of the discipline as women have been philosophers since the anI
cient period. z
I share with many feminist philosophers and other philosophers writl
ing from the margins of philosophy the concern that the current canonl
ization of philosophy be transformed. Although I do not accept the
position that the current canon has been formed exclusively by power
relations, I do believe that this canon represents only a selective history
of the tradition. I share the view of Michael Berube that "canons are at
once the location, the index, and the record of the struggle for cultural
representation; like any other hegemonic formation, they must be conI
tinually reproduced anew and are continually contested."3
