FEMINISM AND PHILOSOPHY
Proposed Course
Syllabus
Instructor: Brian Robinson
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.brobinson.info
Course Description:
This course will explore a variety philosophical issues, concerns, and methodologies raised and
discussed by feminism and feminists. The primary aim of this course is to gain an intellectual and
personal awareness of the oppression of women. In so doing, we will focus on feminists critiques
of society, language, and philosophical theories, as well as the theoretical developments made in
response to those critiques. We will begin with the nature, causes, and means of the oppression
of women, as well as responses to that oppression. Next, we will examine discussions in the topic
of gender construction and what it means to be female (and male). Five weeks will be spent on a
historical/conceptual review of various forms of feminism. Then, we will look at the development
of the ethics of care, and the diverse, non-unified nature of this normative theory. We will
proceed by leading us through examinations of feminist analyses and critiques of pornography.
Finally, the assigned readings will present us with the role of language in oppressing women and
considerations for how one can speak for someone else, be it one woman speaking for other
women, a man for women, a white woman for a black woman, etc. The course will conclude with
group presentations that will either expand on topics previously discussed or any of the host of
other philosophical issues pertaining to feminism that the readings did not cover. (A
bibliography will be provided for both to guide students in picking a topic and preparing the
presentation.)
Textbook:
• Tong, R. M. (2014). Feminist Thought, 4th Edition. Westview Press.
• Fyre, M. (1983). Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory. Crossing Press.
• Course Packet
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Feminism and Philosophy - Schedule
Topic & Assignment
Oppression
Frye - "Introduction" and "Oppression" (xi - 16)
De Beauvior, The Second Sex - Introduction & Conclusion
Frye - "Sexism" (17-40)
Bartky - "On Psychological Oppression"
Young - “Five Faces of Oppression”
Gender Construction
Fausto-Sterling - “How Many Sexes Are There?”
Kaplan & Rogers - “The Definition of Male and Female”
Irigaray - “The Sex Which is Not One”
Virtue Ethics Syllabus – Brian Robinson
www.brobinson.info
Week 4
Week 5
Feminisms
Liberal
Feminism
Radical
Feminism
Marxist &
Socialist
Feminism
Week 6
Multicultural
Feminism
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Week 15
2
Wollstonecraft, “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”
Feminist Thought, chapter 1
Frye - “Some Reflections on Separatism and Power”
Feminist Thought, chapter 2
Feminist Thought, chapter 3
hooks - "Black Women: Shaping Feminist Theory"
Lugones and Spelman, "Have We Got a Theory for You!
Feminist Theory, Cultural Imperialism, and the Demand for
'The Woman's Voice'"
Feminist Thought, chapter 6
Frye, "On Being White: Toward a Feminist Understanding
of Race And Race Supremacy" (110-27)
Ecofeminism Feminist Thought, chapter 7
Psychoanalyti
c & CareFeminist Thought, chapter 5
based
Feminism
Feminist Ethics
Held - "Feminist Transformations of Moral Theory"
Gilligan - "Woman's Place in Man's Life Cycle"
Ethics of Care
Bartky, "Feeding Egos and Tending Wounds: Deference
and Disaffection in Women's Emotional Labor"
Moral
Gilligan “Moral Orientation and Moral Development”
Development
Jaggar - "Political Philosophies of Women's Liberation"
Politics and
Roddick “Notes Toward a Feminist Maternal Peace
Liberation
Politics”
Sex and Pornography
Longino - "Pornography, Oppression, and Freedom: A Closer Look"
Nussbaum - "Objectification"
Willis - "Feminism, Moralism, and Pornography"
Language
Saul - "Feminism and Language Change"
Alcoff - "The Problem of Speaking for Others"
Moulton - “The Myth of the Neutral ‘Man’”
Group Presentations
Group Presentations
Group Presentations
Group Presentations
Virtue Ethics Syllabus – Brian Robinson
www.brobinson.info
3