Episode 142: Natality with Jennifer Banks

In episode 142 of Overthink, Ellie and David chat with Jennifer Banks about her book Natality: Toward a Philosophy of Birth. They think through the debate between pronatalism and antinatalism, and consider alternatives to these positions. They also discuss Hannah Arendt’s account of natality and what Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein tells us about the relationship between birth and monstrosity. What is birth, and why does it seem to defy so many of our concepts and categories? What’s the difference between being-born and giving-birth? And how would our view of ourselves change if we saw ourselves through the lens of a “philosophy of birth” (as opposed to, say, “a philosophy of death”)?