Being as Relation in Luce Irigaray

Many scholars have struggled with Irigaray?s focus on sexuate difference, in particular with her claim that it is ?ontological,? wondering if this implies a problematically nai?ve or essentialist account of sexuate difference. As a result, the ethical vision which Irigaray elaborates has not been taken up in a robust way in the fields of philosophy, feminism, or psychoanalysis. By tracing the notion of relation throughout Irigaray?s work, this book identifies a rigorous philosophical continuity between the three self-identified ?phases? in Irigaray?s thought (despite some critics? concerns that there is a discontinuity between these phases) and clarifies the relational ontology that underlies Irigaray?s conceptualization of sexuate difference ? one that always already implies an ethical project. The text demonstrates that an understanding of Irigaray?s Heideggerian inheritance ? especially prominent in her later texts ? is essential to grasping the sense of the idea that sexuate difference is ontological ? it concerns Being, rather than beings. This book further develops potential applications of this ontological notion of a ?relational limit? for the fields of philosophy, feminism, and psychotherapy.