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...more than other senses, the eye objectifies and masters. it sets at a distance, maintains the distance. in our culture, the predominance of the look over smell, taste, touch, hearing, has brought about an improverishment of bodily relations...the moment domin ates the look dominates, the body loses its materiality” -luce irigaray
Luce Irigaray
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote explores how visual perception influences our relationships and experiences, leading to a detachment from bodily sensations.

Luce Irigaray's quote highlights the power of the visual sense in shaping our understanding and interaction with the world. She suggests that in a culture where sight predominates over other senses, we risk reducing our physical experiences and bodily relations to mere objects, leading to a loss of materiality and connection with ourselves and others. This domination of the 'look' emphasizes distance and separation rather than intimacy and presence, ultimately impoverishing our sensory experiences.

Themes

PerceptionVisualExperienceSensesRelationshipsDistance

In practice

Example use cases

During a lecture on sensory perception in psychology, this quote could emphasize the importance of experiencing life through all senses, not just the visual.

More from Luce Irigaray

Your silence exists as does my self gathering. But so does the almost absolute silence of the world's dawning. In such suspension, before every utterance on earth, there is a cloud, an almost immobile air. The plants already breathe, while we still ask ourselves how to speak to each other, without taking breath away from them.
Luce IrigarayRead
Each sex has a relation to madness. Every desire has a relation to madness. But it would seem that one desire has been taken as wisdom, moderation, truth, leaving to the other sex the weight of a madness that cannot be acknowledged or accommodated.
Luce IrigarayRead

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