Secomb, Linnell (1999) Philosophical deaths and feminine finitude. Mortality, 4 (2). pp. 111-125. ISSN 1357-6275 (Print), 1469-9885 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/713685975)

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Abstract

The concepts of mortality and finitude are central to Hegel's and Heidegger's philosophical projects. They propose that the confrontation with, or the awareness of, death awakens us to self-consciousness or to authentic existence. Yet they both focus on an individualized encounter with a death which lies in our future. This paper argues that in addition to this atomistic mode of being-towards-death there is also a certain 'feminine' relation to death which arises in being-with the dying other and grieving for those who have died. This experience suggests that our death is approached in the context of the deaths of others and is immanent within life: this death is inter-relational and intrinsic rather than isolated and futural and impending.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Hegel, Heidegger, being-toward-death, dwelling-with-death
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
Pre-2014 Departments:	School of Humanities & Social Sciences School of Humanities & Social Sciences > Department of Social, Political & Cultural Studies
Last Modified:	14 Oct 2016 09:21
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/8666

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