Table Of ContentPhilosoPhy 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
