PHL2230 Feminist Philosophers
-
Handbook entry- a brief description of the subject can be found in the handbook entry. The handbook also provides information about the unit leader, the semester and mode in which the unit is available, the contact hours and the assessment requirements.
-
MUSO site - there is a WebCT site for this unit where assessment tasks, lecture notes and other unit resources will be posted. Once enrolled, students taking this unit are advised to check the WebCT site regularly.
Subject description:
Philosophy has traditionally been a very male dominated subject: in order to be a philosopher it may seem that one requires a beard, or at least a pipe! Feminism is often represented as a very recent movement: in order to be a feminist it may seem that one requires a bra to burn, or at least to wear trousers! Thus it may seem unlikely that there are any feminist philosophers to be found in past centuries. This subject challenges both these assumptions. The challenge itself raises the questions 'What is philosophy? What is feminism?' and 'What is the relationship between them?' These questions will be dealt with in this course through the examination of the writing of a number of women whose philosophical works have in many cases only been made readily available by scholars working during the past thirty years on the retrieval of women's thought.
Although one could reach further back in time, the course will begin with Christine de Pizan (1365-1430), an early humanist most famous for her Book of the City of Ladies (1405). Hers is perhaps the first attempt by a woman to rewrite history in order to defend women from men's derogatory slanders. It will then examine the works of a selection of the following, attempting to outline the development of feminist ideas over four centuries:
Marie le Jars de Gournay (1565-1645) author of Equality of Men and Women (1622)
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623-73) who wrote and published a number of books including a discussion of the philosophical opinions of her male contemporaries, Philosophical Letters.
Mary Astell (1666-1731) author of A Serious Proposal to the Ladies (1694)
Catherine Macaulay (1731-1791) whose Letters on Education influenced,
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) most famous for her A Vindication of the Rights of Women.
The discussion of the writing of these historical figures will be framed by the consideration of more recent feminist writing, in particular the philosophies of
Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) and Luce Irigaray (1930- ).
What is the value of studying the subject Feminist Philosophers?
This is a subject for those who want to get away from malestream thought and see the world from another set of perspectives. It opens up a marginalised but important tradition of Western political thought which forms the basis for contemporary thinking about the question of justice between the sexes. The course will be of value not only for students of philosophy but also for those with an interest in history, political science, gender studies and European culture.