Philosophy and Gender 2016-17
Spring Term, Weeks 1 – 5
Gendered Freedom: Independence and Dependence
Lecturer: Susan James
[email protected]
In what terms should we describe the cultural and political subordination of women?
According to one influential view, women’s subordination lies in certain forms of
dependence that in turn make them unfree. The idea that freedom consists in
independence is currently much discussed, and the aim of this section of the course is
to see how far this analysis of liberty can illuminate gender relations past and present.
We shall begin with works by two classic authors, Mary Wollstonecraft’s A
Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1790), and articles written in the opening
decades of the twentieth century by the Russian feminist and revolutionary,
Alexandra Kollontai. Each of these authors offer an account ways in which
dependence makes women unfree. We’ll then move on to examine the extent to
which the idea of freedom as independence can and does inform contemporary
discussions of gendered subordination.
Lectures: The lectures for this module will be held on Thursdays from 6-7pm in the
Spring Term. The lecturers will be Susan James ([email protected]) and Charlotte
Knowles ([email protected]).
Seminars: The seminars for this module will be held on Thursdays from 7-8pm in the
Spring Term.
Essays (BA): This module is assessed by one essay of around 3,000 words. It must be
written in response to one of the set questions listed below, except with permission
from the module convenor. For details concerning submission of the essay including
deadlines, see the BA Handbook.
Prior to this assessed essay, you may also write up to two ‘formative’ (practice)
essays during the course, taken from the titles below, and receive feedback on them
from your seminar leader. These can be useful practice for your eventual assessed
essay. You should submit the first such essay by the Friday of reading week, and the
second by the Friday after the last week of term. You are always welcome to submit
an essay earlier than these dates; however, seminar leaders are not obligated to
provide feedback on essays submitted late. Note that the seminar leader should not be
expected to comment on the same essay more than once.
Moodle: Electronic copies of course materials are available through Moodle, at
http://moodle.bbk.ac.uk. You need your ITS username and password to enter. Some
items may need to be accessed through the library website. For this you will need the
same username and password you use for Moodle.
Week 1
The Idea of Freedom as Independence
Required Reading: Pettit, Philip (1996), “Freedom as Antipower”, Ethics, 106 (3):
576-604.
Additional Reading: Sally Haslanger, ‘Oppressions, Racial and Other’ in Resisting
Reality (OUP, 2012)
Week 2
Wollstonecraft on Independence, Education and Domestic Life
Required Reading: Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the
Rights of Woman, ed. Sylvana Tomaselli (Cambridge University Press, 1995),
chapters 6-12.
Also available at:
http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitl
e=126&Itemid=28
Additional Reading: Alan M. S. J. Coffee, ‘Mary Wollstonecraft, freedom and the
enduring power of social domination’, European Journal of Political Theory.
http://ept.sagepub.com/content/early/recent
Week 3
Kollontai on Domestic and Sexual Independence for Women
Required Reading: Three articles by Alexandra Kollontai, ‘The Social Basis of the
Woman Question’; ‘Preface to the Book “Society and Motherhood”; ‘Sexual
Relations and the Class Struggle’.
These articles are available online at the Alexandra Kollontai archive,
https://www.marxists.org/archive/kollonta/
Additional reading: Jinee Lokaneeta, ‘Alexandra Kollontai and Marxist Feminism’,
Economic and Political Weekly, April 28th, 2001. Available at JStor.
Week 4
Independence and Care
Required Reading: Marilyn Freedman, ‘Pettit’s Civic Republicanism and Male
Domination’ in Laborde, Cécile and Maynor, John (eds.) (2008), Republicanism and
Political Theory, (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing), Chapter 8.
Additional reading: Eva Kittay and E.K. Feder, The Subject of Care: Feminist
Perspectives on Dependency, (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), chs 1, 2 and 5.
Week 5
Violence and Independence
Required reading: Catherine MacKinnon, ‘Human Rights and Violence against
Women’ in Are Women Human?
Additional Reading: Elizabeth Frazer and Kimberley Hutchings. ‘Feminism and
the critique of violence: negotiating feminist political agency’, Journal of Political
Ideologies 2014, vol. 19, (2) 143-163.
10.1080/13569317.2014.909263
http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/8044
FURTHER READING
NOTE: Further bibliography for essays (3) and (6) will be added
WEEK 1: The Idea of Freedom as Independence
(This reading is especially relevant to Essays 2 and 4.)
Honohan, Iseult (2002), Civic Republicanism, London: Routledge. [Chapters VI and
VIII. There is also a short section on Wollstonecraft, Chapter III, pp. 99-102].
Lovett, Francis (2006), “Republicanism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/republicanism/.
*Laborde, Cécile and Maynor, John (eds.) (2008), Republicanism and Political
Theory, (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing) Chapter 1, ‘The Republican Contribution
to Contemporary Political Theory’.
Pettit, Philip (2006), “The Determinacy of Republican Policy: A Reply to McMahon”,
Philosophy & Public Affairs, 34 (3): 275-283. [includes a very clear 15-point
summary of freedom as non-domination].
*Pettit, Philip (1996), “Freedom as Antipower”, Ethics, 106 (3): 576-604.
Pettit, Philip, ‘Republican Freedom: Three Axioms, Four Theorems’ in Laborde and
Maynor eds., Republicanism and Political Theory, Chapter 5.
Skinner, Quentin (2002), “A Third Concept of Liberty”, Proceedings of the British
Academy 117, 2001 Lectures (2002); a shortened version, London Review of
Books, 4th April, 2002, pp.16–18.
*Skinner, Quentin, ‘Freedom as the Absence of Arbitrary Power’ in Laborde and
Maynor eds., Republicanism and Political Theory, Chapter 4
Nancy Hirschman, The Subject of Liberty. Toward a Feminist theory of Freedom
WEEK 2: Wollstonecraft on Independence, Education and Domestic Life
(Especially relevant to Essay 2.)
Maria J. Falco ed., Feminist Interpretations of Mary Wollstonecraft (Penn State
University Press, 1996).
Moira Gatens, Feminism and Philosophy. Perspectives on Difference and Equality
(Polity Press, 1991).
*Halldenius, Lena (2007), “The primacy of right. On the triad of liberty, equality and
virtue in Wollstonecraft's political thought”, British Journal for the History of
Philosophy, 15 (1): 75-99.
Godin, B. (2014), ”Freedom Fit for a Feminist? On the Feminist Potential of Quentin
Skinner’s Conception of Republican Freedom”, Redescriptions: Political Thought,
Conceptual History and Feminist Theory 17
Halldenius, Lena (2013), ”The Political Conditions for Free Agency. The Case of
Mary Wollstonecraft”, in Q. Skinner & M. van Gelderen (red.), Freedom and the
Construction of Europe, Volume 2. Cambridge University Press.
Jones, Chris (2002), Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindications and their Political Tradition’
in Claudia L. Johnson ed., The Cambridge Companion to Mary Wollstonecraft,
Cambridge University Press, pp. 42-58.
*Sapiro, Virginia (1992), A Vindication of Political Virtue: The Political Theory of
Mary Wollstonecraft, London: University of Chicago Press.
WEEK 3: Further Reading to be added.
WEEK 4: Independence and Care
(Especially relevant to Essays 4 and 5.)
Diemut Bubeck, Care, Gender and the Limits of Justice (Clarendon Press, 1995).
*Engster, Daniel (2001), “Mary Wollstonecraft’s Nurturing Liberalism: Between an
Ethic of Justice and Care”, American Political Science Review, 95 (3): 577-588.
Carole Gilligan, (1982) In A Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's
Development (Harvard University Press, 1982).
Eva Kittay, Love's Labor: Essays on Women, Equality, and Dependency, (Routledge,
1999).
*Eva Kittay and E.K. Feder, The Subject of Care: Feminist Perspectives on
Dependency, (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003).
Nel Noddings, Caring: A Feminine Approach to Ethics and Moral Education,
(University of California Press, 1984).
Eva Kittay and E.K. Feder, The Subject of Care: Feminist Perspectives on
Dependency, (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003).
Catriona Mackenzie, Wendy Rogers, and Susan Dodds (eds) Vulnerability: New
Essays in Ethics and Feminist Philosophy (Oxford Scholarship Online)
WEEK 5: Further Reading to be added.
Philosophy and Gender
Spring Term 2017
Weeks 6 – 10
Female Identity and the Question of Woman
Lecturer: Dr. Charlotte Knowles
[email protected]
This half of the course will focus on the issue of female identity and the
question ‘what is a woman?’ From Simone de Beauvoir to the present day,
feminist theorists have posed this question and sought to answer it through
various means, including phenomenological analyses of the situation of
woman, the development of metaphysical accounts of gender, appeals to
arguments from social construction, and analyses of oppressing factors that
have been thought to universally characterise female experience. The aim in
the following five weeks will be to examine different answers that have been
given to the question ‘what is a woman’ and look at ways in which we can
conceive of female identity as something that has been identified as both
liberating and restricting.
Preliminary Reading
 Feminisms ed. Sandra Kemp and Judith Squires (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1997).
This collection contains a wide range of contributions to the topics discussed in this
course, including a number of the set readings.
Week 6: Beauvoir: Woman as Other
In the first two weeks we shall analyse the metaphysical notion of woman as
‘Other’. In week 6 we will look at how this notion plays out in the work of
Simone de Beauvoir in relation to the concept of complicity.
Essential Reading
 Simone de Beauvoir, Introduction to The Second Sex, trans. H.M.
Parshley (London: Vintage, [1949] 1997).
Additional Reading
 Toril Moi, ‘What is a woman? Sex, Gender and the Body in Feminist
Theory’, in What is a Woman? And Other Essays (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1999).
Week 7: Irigaray: Woman as Other
Week 7 will turn to the work of another seminal French feminist, Luce
Irigaray and analyse her account of woman as ‘Other’. We shall consider
questions of essentialism and the more positive account Irigaray offers of
female identity.
Essential Reading
 Luce Irigaray ‘The Other: Woman’, in Feminisms ed. Sandra Kemp and
Judith Squires (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).
Additional Reading

Anne van Leeuwen, ‘Beauvoir, Irigaray, and the Possibility of Feminist
Phenomenology’ Journal of Speculative Philosophy: Vol. 26, No. 2,
2012.
Week 8: The Idea of Naturalness: Woman as a Performative
Identity
Week 8 will analyse the idea of the performativity of gender, an account of
female identity that rejects notions of essentialism in favour of an account
from social construction.
Essential Reading

Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity
(New York: Routledge, 1990)
Additional Reading
 Moya Lloyd, Judith Butler: From Norms to Politics (Cambridge: Polity,
2007).

Moira Gatens, Imaginary Bodies: Ethics, Power and Corporeality (London:
Routledge, 1996).
Week 9: Social Phenomena and Oppression: Woman as a Social
Construct
Week 9 will re-examine the notion of the social construction of identity from a
new perspective, exploring how we can recognise the centrality of gender
categories to our identity, without conceding that men and women are natural
kinds. We will also touch briefly on the way in which social phenomena may
construct women as an oppressed group.
Essential Reading
 Charlotte Witt, The Metaphysics of Gender (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2011).
Additional Reading
 Haslanger ‘Gender and Race (What) Are They? (What) Do we Want
them to be? (?)’ Nous: Vol. 34, No.1, 2000. 31-55.


Andrea Dworkin, Woman Hating (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1974).
Rae Langton, ‘Speech Acts and Unspeakable Acts’, 1993.
Week 10: Identity and History: Beyond the Category of Woman
Week 10 will look at attempts to go beyond the category of woman by and
appealing to critical methodologies such as genealogy, which argue that
‘woman’ must be deconstructed if liberation is to be achieved.
Essential Reading

Monique Wittig, ‘One is not Born a Woman’, in Feminisms ed. Sandra Kemp
and Judith Squires (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1997), pp. 220-227.
Additional Reading
 Denise Riley, ‘Am I that Name? Feminism and the Category of ‘Women’ in
History’, in Feminisms ed. Sandra Kemp and Judith Squires (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1997), 241-246.
 Alison Stone, ‘On the Genealogy of Women: A Defence of Anti-Essentialism’,
in Third Wave Feminism: A Critical Reader, ed. Stacey Gillis, Gillian Howie
and Rebecca Munford (Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004),
85-97.