Evaluating Elizabeth Grosz's Biological Turn

Abstract

Elizabeth Grosz's interpretation of Darwinian evolutionary theory to ground a feminist ontology of biology has been particularly controversial. Most critics have understood Grosz as supporting her theory with empirical evidence, and they criticize her for being either inaccurate or uncritical of and overly dependent on science. I argue that Grosz reads Darwin as a philosopher in a Deleuzian and Irigarayan sense, and that Grosz's project is therefore better understood in terms of its ethical and political goals rather than in terms of empirical adequacy. Employing this evaluative framework leads to a novel route for critique of Grosz's ontology in terms of its reliance on the Darwinian distinction between organism and environment. I conclude that Grosz's work is valuable for the way it maintains ethical and political considerations in feminist ontological debates, and that introducing a more sensitive understanding of the organism–environment relation will lead us closer to a truly feminist ontology of biology.

A feminist opening of resilience: Elizabeth Grosz, Liberian Peace Huts and IR critiques

“…For Grosz, life (ontology) is characterised by the dynamic and unpredictable production of ever more difference, of differentiation; and this constant production of difference is propelled by (at least two) sexually differentiated bodies. See Trappes ( 2019 ).…”