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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Oregon Scholars' Bank THE ETHICS OF AMBIVALENCE: MATERNITY, INTERSUBJECTIVITY, AND ETHICS IN LEVINAS, MERLEAU-PONTY, AND BEAUVOIR by SARAH LACHANCE ADAMS A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of Philosophy and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2011 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Sarah LaChance Adams Title: The Ethics of Ambivalence: Maternity, Intersubjectivity, and Ethics in Levinas, Merleau-Ponty, and Beauvoir This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Philosophy by: Dr. Beata Stawarska Co-Chair Dr. Bonnie Mann Co-Chair Dr. Mark Johnson Member Dr. Sara Hodges Outside Member and Richard Linton Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies/Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded June 2011 ii © 2011 Sarah LaChance Adams iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Sarah LaChance Adams Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy June 2011 Title: The Ethics of Ambivalence: Maternity, Intersubjectivity, and Ethics in Levinas, Merleau-Ponty, and Beauvoir Approved: _______________________________________________ Dr. Beata Stawarska, Co-Chair Approved: _______________________________________________ Dr. Bonnie Mann, Co-Chair My dissertation is an existential-phenomenological account of human relations and ethics in dialogue with feminist care ethics. Using the work of Emmanuel Levinas, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Simone de Beauvoir, I describe how the ambiguity of human relationships results in an ambivalent ethical orientation, contingent as it is on negotiating the interrelated yet separable interests of the self and the other. Central to my work is a phenomenological description of maternal ambivalence (mothers‘ simultaneous desires to nurture and reject their children), an empirical case study that demonstrates how the conflicted nature of human relationships operates. Ultimately, I argue that ethical ambivalence is morally productive insofar as it helps one to avoid moral absolutism, recognize the alterity of others, attend to the particularities of situation, and negotiate one‘s own needs and desires with those of other people. This dissertation includes previously published material. iv CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Sarah LaChance Adams GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon Seattle University, Seattle, Washington Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, Philosophy, 2011,University of Oregon Master of Arts, Philosophy, 2006, University of Oregon Master of Arts, Psychology, 2004, Seattle University Bachelor of Arts, Critical Social Thought, 1999, Mount Holyoke College AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Continental Philosophy, Ethics, Feminist Philosophy, Philosophical Psychology PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Program Coordinator, Hopelink, 2 years GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Magna Cum Laude with High Honors, Mount Holyoke College, 1999 Phi Beta Kappa, Mount Holyoke College, 1999 Charles A. Reed Fellowship, University of Oregon. 2007 John L. and Naomi M. Luvass Fellowship, University of Oregon, 2007-2008 & 2010-2011 v Center for the Study of Women in Society Graduate Research Grant, University of Oregon, 2008-2009 Oregon Humanities Center Graduate Fellowship, University of Oregon, 2009- 2010 Betty Foster McCue Fellowship, University of Oregon, 2009-2010 PUBLICATIONS: Sarah LaChance Adams. ―Becoming with Child: Pregnancy as Provocation to Authenticity.‖ In New Perspectives on Sartre, edited by Adrian Mirvish and Adrian van den Hoven. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2010, 25-36. Sarah LaChance Adams. ―The Pregnable Subject: Maternity and Levinas‘ Relevance to Feminism.‖ In Phenomenology 2010 Vol. 5, edited by Michael Barber, Lester Embree, and Thomas J. Nenon. Bucharest: Zeta Books, 2010, 333-355. Sarah LaChance Adams. ―Reconsidering the Political Individual.‖ Journal of the Association for Research on Mothering. 10.1 (2008): 233-242. Sarah LaChance Adams. ―The Need of Philosophy in Hegel.‖ Southwest Philosophy Review. 23.1 (2007): 89-96. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I owe profound thanks to my family—Robert Dewitt Adams, Nancy Bird LaChance, Wayne LaChance, Kristan Stringer, Diane Lamb, Geneva LaChance, Raymond LaChance Sr., Marilyn Hawkins, William Bird Sr., William Bird Jr., and Don Bird—who instilled in me the values of wonder, gratitude, joy, and humility without which I could not have completed this dissertation. I also want to thank the Adams family for their love and support. I wish to thank the faculty of the Philosophy Department at the University of Oregon. I am grateful to Beata Stawarska, Bonnie Mann, Mark Johnson, Sara Hodges, John Lysaker, Naomi Zack, Rocio Zambrana, Ted Toadvine, Colin Koopman, Scott Pratt, Alejandro Vallega, Daniela Vallega-Neu, and Peter Warnek who have each supported me in unique and vital ways. Further thanks are owed to my long distance teachers and supporters Brian Schroeder, Lisa Guenther, Ted George, Kristi Sweet, Gail Weiss, Eva Simms, Dorothea Olkowski, William Wilkerson, and Talia Welsh. Thank you to the students at the University of Oregon who have encouraged me, prodded me, and inspired me with their own work: Adam Arola, Megan Burke, Liz Caldwell, Elena Cuffari, Carolyn Culbertson, Al Frankowski, Jazmine Gabriel, Andrew Hines, Jena Jolissaint, Emma Jones, Jason Jordan, Jonathan Langseth, Katherine Logan, Caroline Lundquist, Johanna Luttrell, Jose Mendoza, Rhea Muchalla, Thomas Nail, Kimberley Parzuchowsky, Dana Rognlie, Paul Qualtere-Burchere, Christy Reynolds, Melissa Shew, Lucy Schultz, Grant Silva, Jessica Simms, Jason Vanderhaar, and Amelia Wirts. vii I feel deeply grateful to my mentors and comrades in motherhood—Mom, Kris, Diane, Danni, Bonnie, Eva, Courtney, Farrar, Christa, Missy, and Caroline—who were there for me at my own moments of ambivalence and who bravely shared their conflicted journeys with me. Special thanks are owed to my daughter Geneva, the source of a new and better life for me. viii For Robert Dewitt Adams Nancy Bird LaChance and Geneva Louise LaChance Adams Who have demonstrated the true depth of their personal endurance, patience, and love for me throughout this process. A Rain-Brain in a Broom-Room ―Write another one, Mum,‖ she says, and wriggles her pants to her waist, and pulls me down to a Henry-hug, and squinches her soft-nosed face. Seeing me raise the pen again, she clasps tiny fingers in delight and turns up the ends of her rose-bud mouth and bounces her pudgy knees tight. Earlier with her mini‘ture tool, She‘d set out to sweep up her room, Needing the dust pan in the back hall asked, ―Why don‘t you use your broom?‖ I‘m hoping that someday she‘ll fully comprehend, that I‘ll no longer have to explain, when using my broom I don‘t get the smiles that I get when I‘m using my brain! Nancy Bird LaChance, 1979 ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. MAD MOTHERS, BAD MOTHERS AND WHAT A GOOD MOTHER WOULD DO .......................................................................................................... 1 Notes ................................................................................................................. 14 II. THE MOTHER AS ETHICAL EXEMPLAR IN ETHICS .................................. 15 Maternal Ethics ................................................................................................. 19 The ―Nature‖ of Maternal Care .......................................................................... 23 Approach ........................................................................................................... 32 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 45 Notes ................................................................................................................. 46 III. MOTHERHOOD‘S JANUS HEAD ................................................................... 49 Psychology & Psychoanalysis............................................................................ 54 The Two Faces of Maternal Ambivalence .......................................................... 57 Mutuality—My Child, Myself ..................................................................... 59 Conflict—Either the Kid Goes, or I Go ........................................................ 68 Ambiguous Intersubjectivity—More and Less Than One ............................. 80 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 92 Notes ................................................................................................................. 95 IV. MATERNITY AS VULNERABILITY IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF EMMANUEL LEVINAS ........................................................................................ 101 A Sketch of Femininity and Maternity in Levinas .............................................. 102 Levinas‘s Early Work .................................................................................. 102 x Chapter Page Otherwise Than Being, Or Beyond Essence.................................................. 108 Ambiguous Intersubjectivity in Levinas ............................................................. 121 Proximity
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