Phenomenology of Sexuality

It has been only in the last ten or fifteen years that feminist philosophy and gender studies have begun to utilize the rich potential of phenomenology. Regarding this, so-called "feminist phenomenology" belongs to the most recent developments in the area of phenomenology. This is precisely the point of departure for the intended Habilitation project. The goal of the Habilitation project is to elaborate the outline for a phenomenology of sexuality on the basis of 20th century phenomenology, taking special account of the current state of philosophical gender studies and feminist philosophy. The central question is to what extent phenomenology can make an important contribution regarding the issues of sexual existence, sexual difference, and construction of gender - three central issues of modern feminist theory. For this purpose, this study will be concerned with three influential feminist approaches: with Simone de Beauvoir`s existentialist ethics; with Luce Irigaray`s conception of sexual difference; and with Judith Butler`s constructivist gender theory. Methodologically, this project will take recourse primarily to the work of the French phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty. His phenomenology of embodiment proves to be especially pertinent, insofar as the philosophical conceptions of gender by Beauvoir, Irigaray, and Butler are centrally concerned with the issue of the body. It will be shown to what extent his phenomenology can contribute to the clarification and further elaboration of those questions that, during the last decades, have persistently occupied and continue to occupy feminist philosophy and gender studies. Due to its theme, the intended Habilitation project will constitute a significant contribution to basic research in philosophy. What is more, it will have a trans-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary significance because its observations and explanations can be utilized by all those disciplines that are concerned today with sexuality in general and with gender in particular.