Inclinations: A Critique of Rectitude

Square One: First-Order Questions in the Humanities

by Adriana Cavarero, Adam Sitze (Translation), Amanda Minervini (Translator)

In this new and accessible book, Italy's best known feminist philosopher examines the moral and political significance of vertical posture in order to rethink subjectivity in terms of inclination. Contesting the classical figure of homo erectus or "upright man," Adriana Cavarero proposes an altruistic, open model of the subject―one who is inclined toward others. Contrasting the masculine upright with the feminine inclined, she references philosophical texts (by Plato, Thomas Hobbes, Immanuel Kant, Hannah Arendt, Elias Canetti, and others) as well as works of art (Barnett Newman, Leonardo da Vinci, Artemisia Gentileschi, and Alexander Rodchenko) and literature (Marcel Proust and Virginia Woolf).

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Feminism, Theory

206 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Adriana Cavarero teaches philosophy of politics at the University of Verona, Italy, and is a visiting professor at New York University. Her field of research includes classical, modern and contemporary thought, with a special focus on the political significance of philosophy. Two main concerns shape her approach to the Western philosophical tradition. First, the 'thought of sexual difference', a theoretical perspective that enables the deconstruction of Western textuality from a feminist standpoint. Second, the thought of Hannah Arendt, reinterpreted in its most innovative categories: birth, uniqueness, action and narration. The result is an inquiry that foregrounds the individual and unique existence of the human being, as related to body and gender. Cavarero resists both the solitary abstraction of the philosophical Subject, and the volatile fragmentation of the postmodern subject, in the name of the living uniqueness of a self being generated through plural relationships with other human beings, and the acceptance of the constraints of individuality and the body.

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank u mother

[lore · Rating 5 out of 5]

de lo mejorcito que he leído en toda mi vida

[Marea sdp · Rating 4 out of 5]

3’5-4⭐️ Es un ensayo bellamente escrito acerca de reformular nuestra idea de sujeto desde una concepción de intersubjetividad comprometida, interdependiente. Se enuncia así un sujeto «inclinado» vs. el sujeto recto (moral, racionalmente) que se ha formulado en la tradición filosófica clásica.

Es cierto que el libro no plantea un argumento profundo ni tampoco se complementa esta gran idea con otras ideas que puedan resultar también valiosas. A veces se siente que, más que una tesis filosóficamente fuerte, la autora enuncia una bonita metáfora que se extiende a lo largo de casi 300 páginas.

Y aún con todo esto, le doy muy buena valoración porque el libro está bien escrito, lo he disfrutado mucho y sé que acudiré a esta metáfora cuando quiera hablar de intersubjetividad en los términos que suelo manejar (Merleau-Ponty y Butler).

Si te interesa el tema de la intersubjetividad, la interdependencia o los cuidados, lo recomiendo mucho. De igual manera, si lo que te apetece es leer un ensayo bellamente escrito, este puede ser un buen candidato.

[Lili Dia Cap · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me gusto la forma de explicar de Adrina Cavarero.Facil de leer, en el que expone ideas claras compartidas con Butler sobre la dependencia intrinseca en el humano y la vulnerabilidad como condición inherente

[Tia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a remarkable contribution to a wide range of philosophical debates, and one that can hopefully be taken up generously in a variety of fields. Cavarero’s prose is playful and inviting even if you don’t know the texts that she is working with (I am less familiar with most of them than I’d like to be). That said, the latter chapters do get a bit bogged down in the weeds of Arendt and Lévinas; it’s a lot of minutiae that isn’t unimportant, but feels less connected to the premise advanced earlier on, and the effort to shoehorn them together in the final few pages feels rushed. And finally, it’s SO Eurocentric — to talk about the triad of the body, Enlightenment constructions of the human, and maternal ethics and then NOT remotely consider racialisation, colonialism, enslavement, queerness, or disability is a huuuuge oversight. These things could all be studied as expansions of her work here, but would have also deeply enriched the original text itself.

[Zeina]

In Inclination: A Critique of Rectitude,” Cavarero skilfully constructs a feminine and relational framework or ‘geometry’ for understanding the human experience to counter the masculine geometry of verticality that is assumed to be the central differentiating characteristic of Homo Erectus. Adriana Cavarero’s book is beautifully crafted. It curates ideas from philosophy, art, and biology to conjure up a vision of a maternal ethics that is more interested in inclination toward the other than in uprightness or self-contained integrity.

The book is moving, rigorous, and, expectedly, very Eurocentric. As is typical of the genre, it speaks in universal terms of a worldview that is based on a uniquely Western philosophical tradition. What Cavarero describes as Inclination has arguably been the dominant form of relationality and ethicality in communal societies throughout history. Such communal societies, mostly in the global South, have not been immune to the homogenising impact of globalisation. But Cavarero’s ‘inclination’ is very much their dominant form of ethicality and relationality in their history, philosophical traditions, and, often still, lived experience.

[Adrián · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A la pintura de Leonardo, com a prova del sistema general, la verge seu a la falda de la seva mare Anna. La falca dissenyada del cos inclinat de Maria té en el cos d'Anna un punt de suport, gairebé un ancoratge perquè la filla pugui treure el cap a fora d'ella mateixa en la inclinació sobre el nen. Més que retenir-la fins que Crist no sigui emportat per la necessitat salvadora del seu sacrifici, Anna li dona permís per abocar-s'hi. La imatge, en un cert sentit, suggereix que tota mare ha tingut una mare, segons una sèrie, potencialmebt infinita, d'inclinacions unilaterals priner rebudes i després donades. Aquí de fet només se'n veu una porció, de la qual Jesús representa idealment el final, però genealògicament la meta".

[Celia Gustavsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for PHIL 334.

[Raquel]

más denso de lo que podía soportar ahora mismo (pero el capítulo de virginia woolf una chulada)

[Dr. Sionainn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wowowowwowowowowowoowow!

[peto johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

absoluto banger aunque haya Algunas Cosas

[Madelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The spatial schema, which is intrinsic to [Paciuchelli’s] argument, is in fact simple and transparent: inclinations displace man from his vertical axis, making him lean to the left, hence destined for the sinister caves of Hell” (Cavarero 61)

[Giulia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Per scoprire cosa si nasconde dietro al sorriso enigmatico della madonna leonardesca.

[Farzeen Ather · Rating 4 out of 5]

8.5/10