Abstract

This dissertation is a questioning of the metaphysical foundations of our Western culture with regard to the feminine and to nature. ;In Chapter One, through an analysis of Nietzsche's metaphysics, I establish that Western Being is phallocentric, and lay out a general framework for thinking on the feminine from a Heideggerean perspective. I show how, for instance, thinking on the feminine can help us "step back" in a Heideggerean manner from the destructive Being that guides this age. I restrict myself to Nietzsche's metaphysics for, following Heidegger's philosophy of history, I understand Nietzsche's Will to Power to be the final form of Western being and thus its ultimate expression. I also, in this chapter, analyse various problems concerning the concept of the feminine, the nature of the body, and the genderization of Being, offering solutions from the school of existential-phenomenology. ;In Chapter Two I question metaphysics more specifically with regard to the feminine by focussing on a crucial metaphysical dichotomy, the nature/culture dichotomy. I trace the roots of the antagonistic relationship between these two concepts by going back to its source in the Greek understanding of the difference between techne and phusis. I think on this difference in the context of the feminine by turning to Aristotle's description of the coming-to-be of a baby. Through this critique, I clarify the feminine's ontological entanglement in the nature/culture dichotomy, and work towards a new description of the natural-cultural situation of women in a way that steps back from metaphysics. ;I continue the analysis of techne and phusis in Chapter Three by analysing the movements of phallocentric Being, focussing on the relation of a modern techn-ological phenomenon, the hydroelectric plant to nature. I then turn to those ontological movements that have been shown through this analysis to be in exile and that I see as being fundamental to the feminine and to the concept of "home". I conclude the chapter with an analysis of the difference between eco-logy and eco-nomy, both of which are rooted in the home