Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One: Approaching Phenomena via Descriptive Methods
Chapter Two: Abortion as Dossier: A Mapping Exercise
Chapter Three: Ethics, Accountability, Critique
Chapter Four: Ethical Images of Thought
Chapter Five: Abortion and the Ethical Labors of Mourning and
Listening
Conclusion
Medical Appendices
About the Author
Karen Houle is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Guelph. She co-edited, with Jim Vernon, Hegel and Deleuze: Together Again for the First Time. She is also the author of two books of poetry: Ballast and During.
This work of poststructuralist philosophy aims to undo some of the
entrenched analytical methods used by traditional academics,
political theorists, and philosophers in evaluating the divisive
issue of abortion. Houle takes no specific position on whether
abortion is right or wrong, good or bad, appropriate for our
society or not. Instead, she aims to open the issue of abortion to
more perspectives, sources of evidence, and personal experiences
than the current framework of the abortion debate typically allows.
The act of judgment–taking a position–only encourages a limited
view of the intrinsic complexity of abortion. The alternative that
Houle suggests is to display and analyze as many aspects of
abortion as possible, including the social context in which it
occurs, the language used to describe it, the history of its
implementation, and the feelings of its participants. One goal of
this method is to help people understand abortion in a way that
promotes continued discussion and reflection rather than an attempt
to 'solve' the problem. Houle's critical technique, drawn
substantially from Foucault and Deleuze, could be extended to other
traditional moral issues like physician-assisted suicide and
recreational drug policy. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate
students and researchers/faculty.
*Choice Reviews*
[Houle's] use of discourse method is . . . successful, and makes a
considerable contribution to feminist ethics.
*Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy*
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