Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One: Approaching Phenomena via Descriptive Methods
Chapter Two: Abortion as Dossier: A Mapping Exercise
Chapter Three: Ethics, Accountability, Critique
Chapter Four: Ethical Images of Thought
Chapter Five: Abortion and the Ethical Labors of Mourning and Listening
Conclusion
Medical Appendices
About the Author

About the Author

Karen Houle is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Guelph. She co-edited, with Jim Vernon, Hegel and Deleuze: Together Again for the First Time. She is also the author of two books of poetry: Ballast and During.

Reviews

This work of poststructuralist philosophy aims to undo some of the entrenched analytical methods used by traditional academics, political theorists, and philosophers in evaluating the divisive issue of abortion. Houle takes no specific position on whether abortion is right or wrong, good or bad, appropriate for our society or not. Instead, she aims to open the issue of abortion to more perspectives, sources of evidence, and personal experiences than the current framework of the abortion debate typically allows. The act of judgment–taking a position–only encourages a limited view of the intrinsic complexity of abortion. The alternative that Houle suggests is to display and analyze as many aspects of abortion as possible, including the social context in which it occurs, the language used to describe it, the history of its implementation, and the feelings of its participants. One goal of this method is to help people understand abortion in a way that promotes continued discussion and reflection rather than an attempt to 'solve' the problem. Houle's critical technique, drawn substantially from Foucault and Deleuze, could be extended to other traditional moral issues like physician-assisted suicide and recreational drug policy. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and researchers/faculty.
*Choice Reviews*

[Houle's] use of discourse method is . . . successful, and makes a considerable contribution to feminist ethics.
*Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy*