Feminist Philosophy

Abstract

Feminist philosophy may be said to be a way of thinking which insists that the female experiences, identities, and ways of being and thinking be considered at least equal in value to those of the male. It is rooted in a belief that women have been dominated and disadvantaged by a way of being and thinking that is culturally patriarchal in character. Although evidences of these concerns may be found throughout much of the western tradition, it is the nineteenth century that gave birth to many philosophical arguments aimed at the emancipation of women and women’s suffrage. Feminist philosophy, as we know it today, is often associated with the movement that began in the 1960s, building in some cases upon the work done by Simone de Beauvoir in The Second Sex, published in 1949. It challenges many of the traditional philosophical dualisms of mind and body, reason and desire, and subject and object. Some feminist philosophers challenge scientific claims to objectivity and universality in knowledge arguing that empirical methods suffer from the biases of gender/sex, race and class, and that because of this they are not objective enough. Others challenge the understanding of ethics in terms of justice and rights in favor of a view which emphasizes caring relationships and responsibilities that follow from that. Some feminist thinking is more reformist in nature, other more revolutionary in nature. And some feminists argue for a universal feminist standpoint while others insist that such reflects patriarchal thinking, that women are many, not one.