Allison Jaggar Feminist Philosophy Eija Sumner

Alison Jaggar  1990 to present, Professor of Philosophy and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder  BA from University of London,  M. Litt. from University of Edinburgh,  Ph.D. from State University of New York at Buffalo,  1995 SWIP Distinguished Woman Philosopher of the Year

Jaggar’s Interests & Current Work  Contemporary social, moral and political philosophy, often from a feminist perspective. She is also interested in moral epistemology, especially in how to justify social criticism in contexts of inequality and cultural difference. More recently, she has been working on some gendered aspects of global justice. Current Works and Works in Progress  Abortion: Three Perspectives  Pogge and his Critics  Ethics Across Borders  Global Gender Justice

Fun Facts on Jaggar  Founding member of the Society for Women in Philosophy in 1971  She gave a lecture at WSU in 1979  She is listed in the book, The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America written by conservative David Horowitz

Feminist Ethics & Philosophy  “I have consistently preferred to define it in terms that are broad rather than narrow, weak rather than strong, inclusive rather than exclusive” (Jaggar on Feminist Ethics)  Commitment to ending women ’ s subordination  “Feminists seek out and challenge male biases within mainstream traditions of philosophical ethics, investigating ways in which these may have participated in subordinating women or in rationalizing their subordination.”

Issues with Mainstream Philosophical thought  Generally, a “functionalist” view of women (by Plato, Aristotle, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche…)  In Western tradition, women are often represented as being less rational than men, also leading to thought that women’s sense of reason is inferior to men’s.

“Living with Contradictions”  “The issues about which feminists disagree are highly charged emotionally as well as morally, and they are politically complex. Usually they cannot be reduced to simple ‘pro’ and ‘con’ positions because they have many more than two sides. These issues may involve conflicts of interest and loyalty among overlapping social groups, incompatibilities among important feminist values or principles, desires thought to be ‘unfeminist,’ or perceived needs to utilize political means that are in contradiction with socially desirable ends.”

Ethics  Practical moral and political issues cannot be resolved through the simple application of general moral principles.  “The assumption that what people ought to do in specific situations may somehow be deduced from independently validated ethical principles is regarded as increasingly as mistaken, resting on a misleading positivist model or moral justification.”  Normative ethical relativism? Subjectivism?

Naturalism  “Naturalism in this sense denies the existence of a pure realm of reason, to be studied by methods that are distinctly philosophical. Instead, it advocates multidisciplinary approaches to understanding human knowledge, utilizing the findings and methods of a range of disciplines with special reliance on the empirical sciences.” (ethical concepts occur with collaboration with psychology, economics, and the social sciences)

Questions?