Feminist philosophy is as wide-ranging as philosophy itself.  Feminist philosophers have articulated radical views of philosophy of science, aesthetics, ethics, political philosophy and epistemology.  What all have in common is the belief that each of these traditional areas of philosophy has been deformed by at best, ignoring women and, at worst actively devaluing women and women's experience.  In this introduction to feminist philosophy we will focus on issues in feminist ethical and political theory, though given the nature of the feminist outlook we will also get glimpses of feminist epistemology, social theory and philosophy of science.  Feminist political and ethical theories are richly diverse.  But all such theories have three common functions.  First, the theories attempt to describe the nature of women's oppression (What is oppression?  And how does it manifest itself in the lives of women).  Second, they attempt to explain the causes and consequences of that oppression.   And finally they attempt to prescribe strategies for ending women's oppression. We will investigate suggested answers to all three of these questions using contemporary sources.  The issues covered will be chosen from among work and family, sexuality, sexual harassment, abortion, date rape, beauty, pornography and affirmative action.
 

Requirements

Two short papers (5-6 pages, double-spaced, 25% each), a comprehensive final examination (25%) and regular attendance at the weekly class meeting and conscientious participation in its discussions and exercises (25%).
 

Required Books:

 Bartky, Sandra, Femininity and Domination

 Bem, Sandra L., The Lenses of Gender

 Frye, Marilyn, The Politics of Reality

 MacKinnon, Catharine, Feminism Unmodified

 COURSEPACK of articles

Required books may be purchased at the Penn Book Center (130 South 34th St.).

The COURSEPACK of articles may be purchased at the Campus Copy Center (3907 Walnut St.)
 

The aim of required readings, exercises and discussion will be to develop each issue deeply and sharply enough to appreciate its personal, political and philosophically radical character.   Because the course meets only once a week participation will include communication among participants by e-mail.    The aim of the bracketed [ ] readings will be to give you the resources for further study of the problems that grip you most.
 

 
Antony and Witt, eds.,  A Mind of One's Own  (MOO) rr
Babbitt, Susan,    Impossible Dreams
Bell, Linda,  ed.  Visions of Women  rr
Chodorow, Nancy,  Femininities, Masculinities, Sexualities
Chodorow, Nancy, Reproduction of Mothering
Card, Claudia,   Feminist Ethics
Daly, Mary,   Beyond God the Father
Daly, Mary,   Gyn/Ecology
de Beauvoir, Simone,  The Second Sex
Dwyer and Feinberg, eds., The Problem of Abortion (PA)  rr
Firestone, Shulamith,   The Dialectic of Sex
Frye, Marilyn,   Willful Virgin  (WV) rr
Gatens, Moira,   Feminism and Philosophy
Gilligan, Carol,   In a Different Voice
Goldberg, Steven,  The Inevitability of Patriarchy
Gould, Stephen Jay,  The Mismeasure of Man
Greer, Germaine,  The Female Eunuch
Grimshaw, Jean,  Philosophy and Feminist Thinking
Hochshield, Arlie,  The Second Shift   rr
Jaggar and Rothenberg, Feminist Frameworks (FF)
Kitcher, Philip,   Vaulting Ambition
Kourany, Sterba, Tong, eds., Feminist Philosophies (KST)  rr
Levin, Michael,   Feminism and Freedom   rr
Lewontin, Rose and Kamin, Not in Our Genes
Lloyd, Genevieve,  The Man of Reason
MacKinnon, Catharine A., Feminism Theory of the State   (FTS)  rr
Mason, Mary Ann,  The Equality Trap   rr
Meyers and Kittay, ed., Women and Moral Theory
Meyers, D., ed,   Feminist Social Thought: A Reader (FST)
Mill, John Stuart,  The Subjection of Women
Nicholson, L., ed.,  The Second Wave: A Reader in Feminist Theory
O'Brien, Mary,   The Politics of Reproduction
Okin, Susan M.,  Justice, Gender and the Family  rr
Paglia, Camille,  Sex, Art and American Culture (SA)  rr
Paglia, Camille,  Vamps and Tramps (VT)  rr
Parrot and Bechhofer, eds., Acquaintance Rape
Pateman, Carole,  The Sexual Contract
Pearsall, M., ed.,  Women and Values
Pollitt, Katha,   Reasonable Creatures   rr
Rich, Adrienne,  Of Woman Born
Roiphe, Katie,   The Morning After  rr
Sommers, Christina, H., Who Stole Feminism?  rr
Stewart, R., ed.,  Philosophical Perspectives on Sex and Love  (PPSL)
Vetterling-Braggin, M., ed., "Femininity", "Masculinity", and "Androgyny"  (FMA)  rr
Vetterling-Braggin, M., ed., Feminism and Philosophy  (FP)  rr
Vetterling-Braggin, M., ed., Sexist Language   (SL)    rr
Waring, Marilyn,  If Women Counted
White, Burton   The First Three Years of Life
Young, Iris, M.,  Justice and the Politics of Difference (JPD)  rr
Young, Iris, M.,   Throwing Like a Girl and Other Essays (TLG)   rr

January 17:                               Introduction

January 24:                               Gender: What it is and how it is socially constructed
                                                 Bem: pp. 1-79
                                                 [Gould, ch. 7, Lewontin, ch.6, Levin, chs. 3 &4, Chodorow in KST]

January 31:                               Gender: What it is and how it is individually constructed
                                                 Bem: pp. 80-175  [Rich in FF]

February 7:                               A model of oppression: mediated existence
                                     Frye: pp. vii-83 [First paper assigned; due Feb. 23]

February 14:                             The persistence of oppression: domination and subordination sexualized
                                                 Mackinnon, Intro and chs. 1, 2, 3;  Young (JPD), pp. 15-65

February 21:                             The phenomenology of oppression
                                                 Bartky, pp. 1-44, 63-82

February 28:                             Work and Family: Gender and the paid/unpaid labor distinction
                                                 Okin, ch. 7 and 8; Bem, ch. 6
                                                 [Mason/White; Mill/Gatens, ch. 2; Weitzman in KST]

March 6:                                   Work and Family: A liberal response
                                                 Okin, ch. 8

March 13:                                 Spring Break

March 20:                                 Sexuality: Androcentric heterosexuality
                                                 Moulton in SL; MacKinnon, ch. 6 and 7; Frye, pp. 109-119 in WV

March 27:                                 Sexuality: Theoretical and practical issues on resistance
                                                 Bartky, pp. 45-62; Frye, 152-173;
                                                 Babbitt, pp. 369-383 in FST  [Daly G/E, ch.5; Freud in FF]
                                                 [Second paper assigned; due April 12th]

 
April 3:                                      Acquaintance Rape
                                                  SA, pp. 49-74; Foa in FP,
                                                  [VT, pp. 19-96; Roiphe, pp. 51-84; Pollitt, pp. 157-168]

April 10:                                    Abortion
                                                  Thomson in PA

April 17:                                    Abortion
                                                 Markowitz in PA, MacKinnon, ch. 8

April 24:                                   Separatist and non-separatist resistance strategies
                                                 MacKinnon, ch.9; Frye, pp. 95-109; Frye in WV, pp. 124-137
                                                [MacK,  chs. 15-16; Frye in WV, pp. 28-38, 51-58; Calhoun, ch.11 in FST]