Between East and West (European Perspectives: A Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism)

Between East and West is an attempt to rediscover meaning for Western philosophy and culture by looking outside the Western tradition. Luce Irigaray's passionate intellect is in evidence throughout the book, which she envisions as "a quest for myself, for the world, for the other, beyond illusions, beyond lies." Irigaray, probably the foremost feminist philosopher in France, attempts to "reground" both individuality and community. To do so she examines the experiential aspects of Eastern philosophy, particularly the yogic tradition.

In the original elements of Indian philosophy, Irigaray finds a mythic-philosophic wellspring of ecological and sexual harmony that is predicated on a respect for difference. Ultimately, she wants to show that certain elements of pre-Aryan Indian thought allow us to reconstitute ourselves as individuals and refound our communities. And according to Irigaray, the stakes are high: "Political agendas ... need new formations, perspectives, words and logic," she writes. And if we don't find them, the 21st century "risks being nothing but a pitiful decline of the human species." --Eric de Place