Abstract

In this chapter, Aristotle's understanding of being in terms of potentiality (dunamis) and actuality (energeia or entelecheia) in Metaphysics IX is analyzed in relation to sexual difference, and juxtaposed with the usage of dunamis in Generation of Animals. In dialogue with Heidegger's reading, the relationship between matter and dunamis is outlined, and the relationship between dunamis and the feminine symptom explored especially in relation to passive dunamis. In Generation of Animals the feminine is associated less with potentiality than with impotentiality or impotence (adunamia), and Aristotle's account of heredity is examined, as is the relationship among femininity, lack, and castration in Aristotle's texts. The chapter concludes with a consideration of Aristotle's rendering of actuality in relation to the feminine symptom.

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