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Key research themes
1. How do feminist philosophers conceptualize and critique traditional philosophical frameworks and contribute novel ontologies for understanding gender and subjectivity?
This theme investigates feminist philosophy's critical engagement with the masculinist biases embedded in traditional philosophical discourses and the effort to develop new ontologies and methodologies that better reflect diverse female experiences and identities. It addresses feminist critiques of essentialism, the exclusion of women from philosophical subjectivity, and the innovative reinterpretations of canonical philosophical traditions to accommodate gendered experiences and intersectional perspectives.
Key finding: This paper advances the argument that feminist ontology need not reject the Western philosophical tradition wholesale but should interrogate and deconstruct its masculinist biases to enable a transformative reinterpretation.... Read more
Key finding: The author argues that feminism, conceptualized broadly as awareness of systemic sexism and oppression, fundamentally revises the entire philosophical enterprise rather than merely adding feminist topics. Feminist philosophy... Read more
Key finding: This collection synthesizes feminist philosophy's contributions by mapping its interrogation of social beliefs about gender across diverse subfields including epistemology, ethics, and political philosophy. It highlights... Read more
Key finding: The work systematically identifies feminist philosophy’s core investigative strands: exposing and correcting male biases in traditional philosophy; deploying philosophical tools to evaluate feminist political claims (e.g.,... Read more
Key finding: Scheman critiques both the annihilators and domesticators of feminist philosophy for misunderstanding its epistemic and political challenges, particularly its robust realism about knowing subjects and perspectival knowledge.... Read more
2. What are the political implications and critiques developed by feminist social and political philosophy regarding gendered citizenship, labor, and justice?
This theme centers on feminist critiques and reconceptualizations of political philosophy, emphasizing how traditional theories marginalize women through public/private divides, the undervaluation of domestic labor, and citizenship exclusion. Feminist political philosophy investigates the scope and subjects of justice, the role of care, and the interplay of intersectional identities within political structures, contributing to debates on liberalism, communitarianism, radicalism, and the impacts of neoliberalism and global migration on gender justice.
Key finding: This paper reconceptualizes Kant's 'woman problem' by highlighting how his political philosophy structurally embeds gendered inequalities through the invisibility and devaluation of domestic labor, which results in passive... Read more
Key finding: The work articulates feminist interrogations of the traditional subjects, scope, and ideals of political philosophy, including rethinking citizenship as relational rather than atomistic, critiquing the public/private divide... Read more
Key finding: This chapter foregrounds the persistent structural gender inequalities in political, economic, and social institutions despite formal legal equality, emphasizing the political implications of the gendered division of labor... Read more
Key finding: The syllabus provides a framework for exploring feminist political thought through practical engagement and critical analysis of feminist ideologies, emphasizing the interaction between feminist theory and political action.... Read more
Key finding: This course outline foregrounds contemporary feminist philosophical questions including the nature of oppression, conceptualizations of gender, and intersectionality, directly engaging with feminist political philosophy’s... Read more
3. How do feminist theorists critically analyze intersecting contemporary socio-political phenomena such as anti-gender movements, femonationalism, and cultural politics through feminist frameworks?
This line of inquiry focuses on feminist examinations of modern political discourses and movements that appropriate gender rhetoric for conservative or exclusionary agendas. Feminist scholars scrutinize 'gender ideology' discourses, the co-optation of feminist themes by populist right-wing parties (femonationalism), and debates around feminist critiques of pornography, unveiling the strategic uses and misuses of feminist terminology in global political contexts and media. These studies blend political theory, discourse analysis, and feminist epistemology to reveal the complexities and contradictions of contemporary gendered political struggles.
Key finding: This work analyzes the concept of 'gender ideology' as deployed by religious and populist right-wing movements, revealing that despite its conceptual incoherence, it functions as a powerful political slogan instrumental in... Read more
Key finding: This review highlights Sara Farris’s critical examination of femonationalism, the appropriation of feminist rhetoric on women’s rights by neoliberal and right-wing forces to support xenophobic anti-Muslim agendas. It... Read more
Key finding: The paper critiques Catharine MacKinnon’s conceptual view that pornography itself constitutes an act of harm subordinating women, distinguishing it from the causal view which links pornography to harm via social attitudes. It... Read more
Key finding: This literary-philosophical analysis reveals George Bernard Shaw as a proto-feminist male dramatist whose plays critically expose patriarchal social norms and advocate for gender equality and democratization. Through his... Read more