A philosophy of birth: if you want to change the world, change the conversation

Abstract

This essay is about why and how we should introduce birth into the canon of subjects explored by philosophy. Birth care brings to the fore fascinating philosophical questions: is a woman in labour a subject with full rights in practice as well as in theory? Can a labouring woman exercise her autonomy in a situation of maximum vulnerability but also maximum lucidity and awareness, as characterises the work of giving birth? What is the relationship between agency, capacity, and pain during and between contractions? Birth care proposes key questions relating to knowledge, freedom, and what it means to be a human being. Nonetheless, giving birth continues to be a blind spot in contemporary prevailing philosophy. My approach to a philosophy of birth aligns with one of the aims of contemporary philosophy; I explore the relationship between knowledge and emancipatory action in the relatively unchartered waters of birth and delivery, to create an epistemology that is sensitive to feminism and embodiment. What I propose to achieve through a philosophy of birth is a new logos for genos —a radically new meditation on origin and birth. How we understand our origin and the practices that bring us into being reveals our humanity. The lived experiences of women and their situated knowledge challenge widely-held assumptions about rationality, about what it is to be a birthing woman and what it is to have agency and capacity in the delivery suite. A philosophy of birth enables us to navigate the stormy waters of contemporary obstetric practice towards a new and radical logos for genos —an embodied genealogy which not only redresses imbalances of gender, but also addresses life and happiness.