Att vara kroppssubjekt : Ett fenomenologiskt bidrag till feministisk teori och religionsfilosofi

Sammanfattning: In the complex of problems concerning women and fertility there is a focal point where central issues meet. The aim of this study is to draw up conceptions that can be of use to individual women who relate their fertile life situations to issues regarding the meaning of their lives. By means of these conceptions I wish to influence cultural, religious and political contexts that shape the sphere of ideas and the life conditions of women during their fertile years.The study discusses which premises that can be developed about the nature of reality if women’s experience of fertility is a fundamental prerequisite when forming theories concerning ontological categories. What significance can the formation of such theories have for the question of the meaning of life? The problem is illuminated by altering between the context of experience-based narratives, i.e. a fictional narrative and a midwife’s narrative, and a philosophical exploration of the narrative context.The study has resulted in: (1) A phenomenological contribution, which means that the reader is involved in the conceptions that concern the experience of life’s meaning and its context. (2) A contribution to feminist theory, which involves a critique of the patriarchal ideas about women’s fertility, and also the creation of ontological concepts inspired by what happens at the moment of birth. Central concepts here are active and passive, body and mind, state and force, work and life act. These concepts become a fundamental condition for the ontological category of body subject and the idea of life as context. (3) A contribution to the philosophy of religion, which leads to a focus on people’s bodily and mental experiences as a base from which the question of the nature of reality is posed. The method of the study has been to create the conditions for discussing issues about the meaning of life by means of altering inadequate ontological categories.