The Oblivion of the Interval
The Oblivion of the Interval
This chapter reads difference in Aristotle's metaphysics in relation to Irigaray's first essay on his work, “How to conceive (of) a girl?” from Speculum of the Other Woman. It argues that his explicit and well-known subordination of difference to identity is predicated upon a phallocentric cover up. The concepts Aristotle privileges—form, substance, identity, physis—are isomorphically congruent with phallic masculinity, while the concepts he designates as their subordinates—matter, privation, and difference—are entwined with a misogynist figuration of femininity. Yet the privilege of form, identity, and physis is far less secure than he admits. They stand on the repression of an interval, which covertly serves to distinguish Aristotle's phallic conceptual architecture from what Irigaray calls the maternal-feminine.
Keywords: Aristotle, Irigaray, physis, matter, form, privation, difference, phallocentrism
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