5. Days and Nights of a New Mother
Existentialism in the Nursery
- Sheila Lintott Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Published Online: 13 AUG 2010
DOI: 10.1002/9781444324525.ch5
Copyright © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Book Title
Motherhood - Philosophy for Everyone
Additional Information
How to Cite
Butterfield, E. (2010) Days and Nights of a New Mother, in Motherhood - Philosophy for Everyone (ed S. Lintott), Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK. doi: 10.1002/9781444324525.ch5
Editor Information
Bucknell University, USA
Publication History
- Published Online: 13 AUG 2010
- Published Print: 24 SEP 2010
Book Series:
Book Series Editors:
- Fritz Allhoff
Series Editor Information
Western Michigan University, USA
ISBN Information
Print ISBN: 9781444330281
Online ISBN: 9781444324525
- Summary
- Chapter
Keywords:
- labor pains - the work and wonder of being a mom;
- days and nights of a new mother - existentialism in the nursery;
- complex relation of individual and the social - in her book, The Ethics of Ambiguity;
- maternal condition - and freedom in situation;
- Beauvoir, an atheist's insistence - absence of a God, and no such thing as an objectively true value;
- crucial element of our situation - in relation to others, in one way or another;
- neither is being a mother nothing - the category of “mother” not dismissed as simply meaningless;
- beyond the “ideal mother” - creating our own identities;
- serious mothers, vulnerable to certain problems - freely choosing to deny their own freedom;
- serious man's goal of escaping anxiety - being doomed to failure
Summary
This chapter contains sections titled:
The Maternal Condition: Freedom in Situation
Beyond the “Ideal Mother”: Creating Our Own Identities
Mommy and Me
Notes