Linda Fisher

The Shadow of the Other

Towards the end of his essay “Marxism and Philosophy” in Sense and Non-Sense, Merleau-Ponty embarks on a short and intriguing digression about Husserl. Tracing a short discussion of the evolution of Husserl’s thinking, Merleau-Ponty ends with this passage, heavy with insinuation: There is a story that in the last years of his life, when Husserl wanted to go to Belgrade to give the lectures he had been forbidden to give in Germany, the Gestapo was assigned the task of first reading his manuscripts. Are we in turn going to look at philosophy through the police chief’s glasses? Philosopher Husserl, we declare you suspected of anti-Hegelianism, and have consequently placed you under surveillance...1

Phenomenology and Feminism: Perspectives on their Relation

The potential significance of the relation and interaction between phenomenology and feminism has only begun to be explored quite recently. Given the rich possibilities promised by such an analysis, it is remarkable that so little attention has been paid to this connection; all the more so considering that some of the most prevalent and influential developments in recent feminist theory in North America are those identified with and/or informed by post-structuralist, deconstructive, or postmodern perspectives—discourses which have arguably been influenced by phenomenology, although this is not usually acknowledged, and indeed is often denied. At any rate, whether or not one accepts the claim that the voice of phenomenology can be heard in postmodernism, it is still the case that in the North American context, these various areas are considered to fall collectively within the category of “Continental” philosophy, broadly conceived. And once again, while there has been a close marriage in much Continental thought of feminism and post-structuralism, or feminism and postmodernism, particularly in the context of the developments and influence of recent French thought, there has been comparatively little exploration of the interaction of feminism and phenomenology.