Between Reason and Unreason: Philosophy, Feminism, and the Laugh of Medusa

Kerry McKeever
University of Idaho

In my essay, I will put forth a parable for the understanding of first, philosophy, and, second, the binary of reason and unreason, or the rational and irrational, in order to explain how a production of culture, namely, the Medusa myth, can reveal much about our given subject. I will trace the Medusa myth from its migration from Libya to Greece through its subsequent metamorphoses from goddess myth to its refiguring as a servant to a highly patriarchal culture. This initial phase will serve as the basis for a meditation on the relationship between two women, Athena and Medusa, who represent the relationship between philosophy and beauty (along with the sublime). What I argue ultimately is that the myth demonstrates the process by which beauty and the sublime are othered by philosophy, only to becomes its Achilles heal.

I will conclude my essay with a contemporary example of how the myth of Medusa appears in popular contemporary culture, carrying with it these foundational assumptions about the nature of rationality and irrationality, particularly as they are connected to our deeply embedded understanding of the beautiful and the sublime.