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¶Marx defined the origin of man’s exploitation of man
as man’s exploitation of woman
and asserted that the most basic human exploitation lies
in the division of labor between man and woman.
Why didn’t he devote his life to solving
the problem of this exploitation?
He perceived the root of all evil but he did not treat it as such.
Why not? The reason, to some extent, lies in Hegel’s writings,
especially in those sections where he deals with love.
Hegel being the only Western philosopher to have
approached the question of love as labor.
¶It is therefore entirely appropriate for a woman philosopher
to start speaking of love. It results from the need
to think and practice what Marxist theory and practice
have thus far ignored, giving rise to merely piecemeal
economic and cultural developments
which can no longer satisfy us.

—Luce Irigaray [I love to you, p.19]

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