Women and Philosophy: Recommendations

1. We should note that a similar problem arises with respect to women’s philosophy as with philosophy written by Africans or persons of African descent: namely, it is difficult to distinguish "women’s philosophy" from standard philosophy that happens to be done by women. Women educated in philosophy learn standard Western philosophy. (Non-Western women are by and large simply not trained in philosophy.) There is not much tradition of "women’s philosophy". It is possible, I think, for a woman to do standard Western philosophy, with no distinctively female overtones, just as it is possible for an African or African-American to do standard Western philosophy with no distinctively African overtones.

2. While women’s rights and activities are restricted in almost all cultures, it seems reasonable to ask whether feminism itself might not be primarily a Western phenomenon, becoming popular in other cultures as Western ideas spread. Can feminist philosophers really be viewed as independent of the Western tradition? While I am tempted to make the distinction between "women’s philosophy" and "Western philosophy" on the basis of feminist theory – feminist theory implied or expressed would count as the distinctively "women’s philosophy" – I cannot help but recall that, as Marx and Engels point out, the notion of equal rights for all persons, independently of sex or class or race, is associated primarily with the modern period in the West, with the rise of capitalism. The notion of equal rights for all persons, male and female, simply did not exist in Confucian China, and still does not exist in traditional Hinduism, traditional Islam, or traditional Christianity. Naturally, the fact that the concept of equal rights is foreign to some cultures does not thereby make the notion "relative" or less important.

3. It is impossible to open a book on contemporary ethics without encountering essays by women. But it is very possible to open a book on the history of philosophy, or introductory philosophy, and find nothing at all by or about women. Thus it is not necessary to take any special measures to ensure that women philosophers are read in ethics classes. But the absence of women and persons of lower socio-economic classes in the history of philosophy must be addressed in introductory philosophy classes; we must at least discuss the historical reasons for it.

4. I do not recommend that we seek out and publish and force our students to read the writings of every obscure woman who happened to say things that might, with some imagination, be interpreted as original philosophical material in tracts on home management or etiquette, as some introductory texts do (e.g., Soccio’s Archetypes of Reason). I think these selections are there purely for political reasons, to sell more textbooks. They are of such poor quality as compared to the other selections that if anything, they reinforce students’ preconceptions that women can’t do philosophy.

5. The contemporary debate about the nature of objectivity and the contribution of emotion to knowledge should certainly be explored in modules on epistemology in introductory philosophy. The role of women philosophers in this debate should be highlighted.

6. Firestone’s critical analysis of Freud should be required in the module on Freud in Philosophy 6 (Philosophy of the Person). It should also be covered in Philosophy 3 (Ethics), as part of the module on whether or not, or to what extent, males and females have different approaches to ethics.

7. The rule-based and care-based approaches to ethics should be emphasized in Philosophy 3, especially with respect to the question of "special duties".

8. An entire section of Philosophy 3 (Introduction to Ethics) could be dedicated to ethical issues of special concern to women.

9. Discussion of philosophy of religion should mention alternative conceptions of God and Goddess. The Gaia model of the divine should be mentioned in environmental ethics.

10. Environmental ethics should discuss eco-feminism.

Go to next