Medusa's Ear : University Foundings From Kant to Chora L

Reads modern philosophy (and the university) as rooted in an audiocentric fantasy.In traditional mythology and iconography, Medusa's killing powers are attributed to visual means: the monster is slain for her looks and her effect is to kill men for looking at her. Challenging the familiar account of the modern era as ocularcentric, this book reads the Medusa-effect on the philosophy of the modern research university as rooted in an audiocentric fantasy. Author Dawne McCance links phonocentrism to an aural imaginary by tracking the trope—and terror—of the deaf ear and mute mouth in the discourse on the university that was inaugurated by Kant and that extends through Hegel and Heidegger to the present. She shows how, repeatedly, in founding texts on the modern research university, the philosopher's fearful recoil from an animal-female figure that he defines as deaf and dumb has the effect—the Medusa-effect—of cutting off his own, and therefore the institution's, ear and tongue. McCance also considers some recent efforts to shake the modern institution out of its Medusa-effect petrification.Dawne McCance is Professor and Head of the Department of Religion at the University of Manitoba and a Fellow of St. John's College. She is the author of Posts: Re Addressing the Ethical, also published by SUNY Press, and the editor of Life Ethics in World Religions. MEDUSA’S EAR......Page 2 CONTENTS......Page 10 ILLUSTRATIONS......Page 12 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 14 ABBREVIATIONS......Page 16 1. MOURNING THE VOICE......Page 18 2. THE ARCHITECTURE OF INSTITUTION......Page 44 3. PASSAGES......Page 64 4. WHO HAS EARS TO HEAR?......Page 80 5. FOUR WAYS OF READING TWO PAIRS: OF SHOES......Page 102 6. ARCHITECTURE’S (THE UNIVERSITY’S) CHORA: TWO POSTMODERN COLLABORATIONS......Page 128 CHAPTER 1......Page 150 CHAPTER 2......Page 152 CHAPTER 3......Page 154 CHAPTER 4......Page 157 CHAPTER 5......Page 158 CHAPTER 6......Page 161 WORKS CITED......Page 166 B......Page 176 C......Page 177 H......Page 178 J......Page 179 P......Page 180 Z......Page 181 MEDUSA鈥橲 EAR 2 CONTENTS 10 ILLUSTRATIONS 12 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 14 ABBREVIATIONS 16 1. MOURNING THE VOICE 18 2. THE ARCHITECTURE OF INSTITUTION 44 3. PASSAGES 64 4. WHO HAS EARS TO HEAR? 80 5. FOUR WAYS OF READING TWO PAIRS: OF SHOES 102 6. ARCHITECTURE鈥橲 (THE UNIVERSITY鈥橲) CHORA: TWO POSTMODERN COLLABORATIONS 128 NOTES 150 CHAPTER 1 150 CHAPTER 2 152 CHAPTER 3 154 CHAPTER 4 157 CHAPTER 5 158 CHAPTER 6 161 WORKS CITED 166 INDEX 176 A 176 B 176 C 177 E 178 F 178 G 178 H 178 I 179 J 179 K 180 L 180 M 180 N 180 O 180 P 180 Q 181 R 181 S 181 T 181 U 181 V 181 W 181 Z 181 Dawne Mccance. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 149-158) And Index. Mode Of Access: World Wide Web. Dawne McCance reads modern philosophy (and the university) as rooted in an audiocentric fantasy