Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:30-1:20
Thompson 119

September 29 2006, 9:09 PM

Essay Deadline and Workshop

FIRST ESSAY: the submission deadline is extended to Tuesday, OCTOBER 31

• turn in your essay (in hard copy) by 5:00 pm to the Philosophy Department (345 Savery Hall).

ESSAY WRITING WORKSHOP:

• Thursday, OCTOBER 26, 4:00-5:30: Philosophy Department conference room (Savery Hall 331A)

This course is organized around three focal themes that have been central philosophical concerns for feminists: concepts of identity, theories of knowledge, and questions of justice. These provide a framework for learning about the diverse, sometimes complementary and sometimes antagonistic, philosophical positions that have informed feminist scholarship and activism. They also provide a point of departure for appraising feminist contributions to various subfields and problem areas within philosophy: ethics and political philosophy; metaphysics and epistemology; philosophy of language and philosophy of science. Questions to keep in mind throughout the quarter are: why does philosophy (or more generally, theory) matter to feminists?; why does (or should) feminism matter to philosophical inquiry?; and what is it that makes a philosophical position or theory feminist?This course has no requirements and is suitable for non-majors.

Course texts:

M. Fricker and J. Hornsby (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Feminism in Philosophy (2000).

Readings available on-line (for afull reference list see the syllabus).

I. Intersecting Genealogies

October 3 / October 5:

• Janet Jakobsen. 1998. Working Alliances and the Politics of Difference: Diversity and Feminist Ethics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Chapter 2.
• Collective, Combahee River. 1977 (1983) "A Black Feminist Statement." In This Bridge Called My Back: Wrirtings by Radical Women of Color, edited by Cherie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua. New York: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press.

October 10:

• Lorde, Audre. 1984. "The Masters' Tools Will Never Dismantle the Masters' House," and "Poetry is Not a Luxury." In Sister Outsider, edited by Audre Lorde. Freedom CA: Crossing Press.
• Maria C. Lugones and Elizabeth V. Spelman. 1983. "Have We Got a Theory for You! Feminist Theory, Cultural Imperialism and the Demand for 'the Woman's Voice'." Women's Studies International Forum 6, no. 2: 573-81. Christian, Barbara. "The Race for Theory." Cultural Critique 6 (1987): 51-64.

October 12: meet in working groups to plan presentations


II. The Politics of Identities / Identity Politics

October 17 / October 19:

• Kimberlé Crenshaw. 1998. "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracism Politics." The University of Chicago Legal Forum (1989): 139-167.
• Judith Butler. 1990. "Gender Trouble, Feminist Theory, and Psychoanalytic Discourse." In Feminism/Postmodernism, edited by Linda J. Nicholson. New York: Routledge, 324-40.
• Donna Haraway. 1991. "Situated Knowledges." In Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature, edited by Donna Haraway. New York: Routledge, pp. 183-202
• Esteban Muñoz. 1999. "Introduction: Performing Disidentifications." Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics, University of Minnesota Press, pp. 1-34.

October 24 / October 26:

• Cambridge Companion: Sally Haslanger, "Feminism in Metaphysics: Negotiating the Natural"
• Paula M. L. Moya. 2000. "Postmodernism, "Realism," and the Politics of Identity: Cherrie Moraga and Chicana Feminism." In Reclaiming Identity: Realist Theory and the Predicament of Postmodernism, edited by Paula M. L. Moya and Michael R. Hames-Carcia. Berkeley CA: University of California Press, pp. 67-101.

October 31 / November 2:

• Miranda Fricker. In press (2006). "Powerlessness and Social Interpretation." To appear in When Difference Makes a Difference: Epistemic Diversity and Dissent. Special issue of Episteme: Journal of Social Epistemology, ed. Alison Wylie.
• Virginia Valian. 1999. "Gender Schemas." In Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.
• Claude M. Steele. 1997. A Threat in the Air: How Stereotypes Shape the Intellectual Identities and Performance of Women and African Americans. American Psychologist 52: 613-629.

III. Situated Knowledge

November 7 / November 9:

• Cambridge Companion: Rea Langton, "Feminism in Epistemology: Exclusion and Objectification"
• Dorothy Smith. 1974. "Women's Perspective as a Radical Critique of Sociology." Sociological Inquiry 44(1): 7-13.
• Derrick Bell. 1992. "Rules of Racial Standing." In Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism. New York: Basic Books, 109-126.
• Frye, Marilyn. 1983. "In and Out of Harm's Way." In The Politics of Reality. New York: Crossing Press.

November 14 / November 16:

• Cambridge Companion: Alison Wylie, "Feminism in Philosophy of Science: Making Sense of Contingency and Constraint."
• Patricia Hill Collins. 1986. "Learning from the Outsider Within: The Sociological Significance of Black Feminist Thought." Social Problems 33(6): S14-S32.
• Uma Narayan. "Working Together Across Difference," Hypatia 32.(1988): 31-48.
• Sandra Harding. 1993. "Rethinking Standpoint Epistemology: What Is ‘Strong Objectivity'?." In Femnist Epistemologies. edited by Linda Alcoff and Elizabeth Potter. New York: Routledge, pp. 49-82.

November 21:

• Nancy Hartsock. 1983. The Feminist Standpoint: Developing the Ground for a Specifically Feminist Historical Materialism. In Discovering Reality: Feminist Perspectives On Epistemology, Metaphysics, Methodology and Philosophy of Science. S. Harding and M. B. Hintikka: 283-310. Boston MA, D. Reidel Publishing Company.

IV. Questions of Justice

November 26 / November 28:

• Elizabeth Anderson. In press (2006). "The Eistemology of Democracy." To appear in When Difference Makes a Difference: Epistemic Diversity and Dissent. Special issue of Episteme: Journal of Social Epistemology, ed. Alison Wylie.
• Cambridge Companion: Diemut Bubeck, "Feminism in Political Philosophy: Women's Difference"
• December 5 / December 7:
• Iris Marion Young. 1990. "Five Faces of Oppression." Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.
• Nancy Fraser. 2000. "Recognition Without Ethics." In The Turn to Ethics, edited by Beatrice Hanssen, Rebecca L. Walkowitz, and Marjorie B. Garber, pp. 95-126. New York: Routledge.

Reading and Discussion (15% of the final grade)

• This is a reading and writing intensive course. Attendance and active participation in class discussion will be crucial to your success in meeting the formal requirements on which you will be graded. You are expected to come to class meetings with informed questions about the assigned readings, and to circulate comments and questions electronically in rotation, once every third week.

In-class Presentations (15% of the final grade)

• You will be expected to collaborate with a small group of other students in developing an in-class presentation on one of the assigned readings.

Essays (40% of the final grade)

• Two short essays are required, on a choice of assigned topics; the first will be due October 26, and the second on November 21.

Take-home Exam (30% of the final grade)

• One final, take-home exam will be assigned in the last week of the quarter, due on December 15.

General Guidelines

• All written assignments must be submitted in hard copy to the Philosophy Department (Savery Hall) by 5:00 pm on the day they are due. Late essays will not be accepted except in documented cases of medical emergency or personal/family crisis.
• Incompletes will be granted following UW policy: you must have "been in attendance and done satisfactory work until within two weeks of the end of the quarter" and you must provide proof that you cannot complete the requirements because of illness or "circumstances beyond [your] control."
• Plagiarism will not be tolerated. If you are unsure what counts as plagiarism, contact the instructor.
• To request an academic accomodation for a disabililty, please first contact Disabled Students Services, and then make an appointment with the instructor to discuss recommended accomodations.