ANSWER:

All human beings begin life by being born – and all human beings die. In these two ways, we are finite: our lives are not endless, but they begin and they come to an end. Historically, however, philosophers have concentrated ATTENTION on only one of these two ways in which we are finite: MORTALITY. Philosophers have said little about being born and how it shapes our existence. An exception is some recent work in feminist philosophy, for instance by Luce Irigaray and Adriana Cavarero – but even here, being born has been overshadowed by giving birth and motherhood.

So how does being born organise human existence? FIRST, let’s clarify that for human beings, to be born is to begin to exist at a certain point in time, and to do so by being conceived and gestated in and then exiting from the womb – historically the maternal womb, although transgender pregnancies are changing this. We thereby come into the world with a specific body, and in a given place, set of relationships and situation in society, culture, and history.