From Philosophy of the Feminine to Clinical Philosophy

Abstract

By focusing on the concept of “clinical philosophy”, this paper develops a Narrative/Trauma approach to deal with the philosophical problematic of oppression and violence. It establishes a link to a “philosophy of the feminine” and brings it together with clinical wisdom to describe a “sphere of intimacy without violence”. The ideology of motherhood so deeply embedded in Japanese society makes unavoidable for feminist philosophy in Japan to question femininity from the standpoint of the double nature of female self as woman and mother. Confronting the motherhood that regulates core Japanese culture and mentality requires a critique of the practice of matri-archy in the intimate sphere. Historically, post-war Japanese family appears in continuity with the matriarchal nature of the imperial and military regime in pre-war Japan. To be fully effective, feminism should therefore transform itself from a gender category to a philosophy, and create a concept of feminine that would be the core notion of feminism as a philosophy.