Beyond the Bump: Reconceiving the Philosophy of Pregnancy

French philosopher Hélène Cixous (1976) stressed the importance of feminine writing. She believes that women should take part in sharing their experiences from their own novel points-of-view. We discuss that while pregnancy is an experience unique to women; it has been misappropriated by patriarchal structures throughout the years. The pregnancy bump; which is more than just evidence of the uterus stretching to accommodate the fetus; is a symbol of a woman\u27s triumphs and struggles all throughout conception; pregnancy and childbirth. We show that women have already gone beyond the bump and challenged existing patriarchal systems through different means; as Cixous has enjoined women to do. With this; it is asserted that the philosophy of pregnancy be reconceived as well; in order to escape existing boundaries that constrict the discourse to ethical issues of rape; abortion; and medical interventions; making it face issues that surround women\u27s experience of pregnancy; as well as deeper meanings the pregnant body itself represents

Cloth weaving cloth, clay shaping clay: Toward a religion of beauty (or folkcrafts as a way of dwelling poetically)

Prompted by Heidegger\u27s search for great art in the modern times, this paper looks into crafts as answering the philosopher\u27s frustrated call. Using Soetsu Yanagi\u27s idea of a religion of beauty, which turns to the ordinary as beautiful, it suggests that crafts - carefully made by hand while considering its affinity with nature and the human body that uses it - is a way of being, the way Heidegger described the way of dwelling poetically. Copyright 2012. C & E Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved

Vernacular crafts and the environment: Toward a relational process of creation

An inquiry into the vernacular crafts with a view into exploring it as a medium where the concern for beauty and for the safety of the environment mat coincide. This paper draws insights from the previous studies on craft working where the engagement in the activity of making something has been shown to be relational-- that is, an engagement with an Other even if the actual physical activity usually requires the isolation of the craftsperson. This study focuses on a different kind of Other-- the non-human person which is the environment. In doing so, it is shown that since the vernacular crafts is closer to natural processes than the fine arts as well as the mass produced objects of utility, then it may be the best medium in creating and achieving beauty while being in harmony with the environment

Dancing off the veils/Dancing the fool: A phenomenological exploration of myths with a view to rediscovering an embodied spirituality

Dancing of the Veils/Dancing the Fool is a hermeneutic-phenomenological exploration of the myths with the purpose of showing relevant paradigms for understanding the nature of embodied spirituality. The exploration is undertaken in the spirit of phenomenological reflection as presented in Gabriel Marcel\u27s The Mystery of Being. Different patterns of this phenomenological process, consisting in primary and secondary reflection, are shown in the movement of the mythical narratives.The first and major myth explored is the myth of the Goddess Inanna\u27s journey to the underworld. Through Inanna\u27s ordeal that culminated in the loss of her flesh through death and decay, it is shown how the goddess represents the individual who goes through the cyclical process of reflection toward the realization that she is a bodily being. This is the first enlightenment toward embodied spirituality.An exploration of a group of creation myths shows that the world, which is the dwelling place of individual beings, has a body, too -- the earth, which has undergone a breaking akin to the broken world of primary reflection. This brokenness is metaphorized to show the modern individual\u27s fragmented view of the world which is part of and contributes to the constant dichotomizing between body and spirit, subject and object. It is shown here that the world\u27s healing, a metaphorical secondary reflection, can be achieved only if individual beings participate in the recognition and celebration of the world as the ground of being. Throughout the exploration, attention is given to dancing, discussed in both its literal and metaphorical sense. The goddess dances off her veils t

Speech acts and poetry

Contrary to Austin\u27s view that a fanciful use of language, like poetry, does not carry illocutionary acts and is therefore parasitic, the author follows through C. Carroll Hollis\u27s work in showing that poets use illocutionary acts in a certain way that may be studied meaningfully, thereby making a speech act a form of literary criticism. She does this by applying the categories of speech acts in her study of some of the love poems of a Filipino poet, D r. Elynia Mabanglo. In the end, she shows that even though the poet does not use language in what Austin refers to as the normal sense, the mimetic character of certain poetry does allow the use and fulfillment of illocutionary acts

Why can\u27t philosophers dance?

Dr. Leni Garcia Castro of the Philosophy Department gavr a lecture on Why Can\u27t Philosophers Dance