Feminist Philosophy

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As a feminist philosophy different, represented mostly by women thinking in the will of 20th century philosophy and contemporary philosophy called, dealing with questions about the natural and socio-culturally constructed differences between the sexes ( Gender deal). Their historical and current effects on philosophy , art and science as well as on the social situation of women in a male-dominated world are examined . Fundamental to feminist philosophy is the critical analysis of the historical-philosophical concepts of “ femininity ” and “ masculinity ”.

First approaches to a feminist philosophy

Since the 14th century, writings by women about gender relations have been known:

  • The medieval French writer Christine de Pizan (1365–1430; Venice ) is valued today as a feminist avant la lettre . She criticized the male misogyny of her social environment. In 1402 she wrote Dit de la rose , a ballad poem about a dream of the author, in which she deals with the misogynistic aspects of the rose novel and imagines the establishment of an order of knights to defend the honor of women (the order of roses). In 1404 the treatise Le Livre des trois vertus followed, in which the right education of girls is dealt with. The book about the city of women followed a year later , in which she describes the utopia of founding a city in which women can find a place of refuge and refuge.
  • The English philosopher Mary Astell (1666–1731) dealt among other things with the then popular natural philosophy as developed by Descartes and Bacon , as well as with the ethical theories of Hobbes and Locke . In addition, Astell asked about nature, the intelligence and the soul of women. She criticized forced marriages (considerations about marriage) and thus sparked a discussion about the legitimacy of the oppression of women.
  • The English writer Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797; London ) was denied a good education throughout her life; thus equitable schooling for girls became one of their major goals in life. Wollstonecraft's best-known work is A vindication of the rights of woman from 1792, in which she pleads for equality between men and women.
  • Marie Gouze (1748–1793; Paris ), known by her stage name Olympe de Gouges , was a revolutionary writer and women's rights activist in the Age of Enlightenment . She came from a small family and learned the French language and culture by herself in Paris. In 1786 she turned in the form of a letter novel under a pseudonym against the discrimination of mothers of illegitimate children. As a so-called bastard child, she herself suffered from disregard from those around her. She also called for the introduction of divorce law and the tolerance of extramarital sexual relationships. During the French Revolution in 1791 she presented the Declaration of the Rights of Women and Citizens and a social contract reminiscent of Jean-Jacques Rousseau . For her demand for human and civil rights for women (“Woman is born free and remains the same as man in all rights”) she received hardly any support, rather she was exposed to numerous hostilities. Before that, she had already campaigned for the abolition of slavery in a writing and a play. Her arguments were vehemently rejected with regard to her femininity. During the Revolution, she wrote pamphlets, leaflets, and posters passionately advocating women's rights, which sparked defamation and other backlash and ended in her guillotine death in 1793.

Emergence

While the practically or politically oriented so-called first women's movement tended to stagnate after the partial introduction of universal suffrage , Elisabeth Selbert in particular ensured that equality was included in the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany. The "second" women's movement brought a renewed upswing at the end of the 1960s . Feminist philosophy emerged from the endeavor to theorize and scientifically criticize patriarchal conditions .

Questions

The questions of feminist philosophy not only include the integration of female perspectives and experiences in philosophy and the disclosure of misogyny and discrimination in the history of philosophy , but also question the entire self-understanding of philosophy as a gender-neutral, objective and universal science .

Feminist political philosophy

In political theory , she examines the structuring of space into a domestic-family and a public-political sphere, each associated with “femininity” or “masculinity”, and its consequences for the conception of politics as a male domain and the relationships between these Concepts of "femininity" and power .

Feminist ethics

The feminist ethics asks for the specific differences of a male and a female ethic and how typically female summed up action models such as sympathy or care in the traditional ethical concepts come up short.

Feminist epistemology and science

The feminist science and epistemology is concerned with fundamental questions about the possibility of gender-neutral objectivity and truth or sex markedness of knowledge ( standpoint theory ); She tries to clarify whether epistemological differences between male and female science can be determined. Sandra Harding suggested dividing feminist epistemology into empirical approaches, point of view theories and postmodern theories. Empirical theories assume that the practices and norms of contemporary science are sufficient to achieve adequate research results. Only a wrong or missing application leads to sexist or androcentric theories. The standpoint theories assume that no theory is independent of special interests and values, but still consider a correct representation of the world through such theories to be possible. Finally, postmodern approaches reject general claims to knowledge about knowledge, progress and identity in general.

Representative

John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor Mill

The British philosopher and politician John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) is considered a representative of liberalism , his views on the situation of women in society can be described as liberal feminism. Influenced by his future wife Harriet Taylor Mill (1807-1858), he demanded - elected from 1865 as a representative of the society for women's suffrage in parliament - women's suffrage and the right to divorce . He was one of the first to investigate the oppression of women in social science.

Simone de Beauvoir

The foundation stone for contemporary feminist philosophy was laid by the writer and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986; Paris), who is regarded as one of the “mothers” of modern feminism . In her study The Other Sex ( Le Deuxième Sexe , 1949) - on the basis of existentialism and existentialist phenomenology - she asked about the importance of the concept of gender for society and discourse and showed the oppression of women in patriarchy . In doing so, she laid important foundations of feminist theory aimed at equality and gender equality.

Julia Kristeva

The French literary theorist, psychoanalyst and philosopher Julia Kristeva (* 1941) rejects the label “feminist”. In the early 1970s she problematized female identity in patriarchy, but was criticized by parts of feminist literary studies for her proximity to psychoanalysis .

Judith Butler

The American philosopher and comparative literary scholar Judith Butler (* 1956) is considered to be the main proponent of deconstructive feminism. She was in the development of queer theory involved, with their influential works Gender Trouble ( Gender Trouble. Feminism and the Subversion of Identity , 1990) and body weight ( Bodies That Matter , 1993) deal. According to Butler, gender is a performative model. The categories “male” and “female” are pure constructs that are only constituted by repeating actions. Not only the social gender ( gender ), but also the biological gender ( sex ) is therefore socially, socio-culturally conditioned, they do not represent natural absolutes. The gender identity is deconstructed in favor of a total differentiation of the individuality of each person. The traditional bisexuality is being replaced by a “plural gender”.

Further representatives

See also

literature

Introductions:

  • Ursula I. Meyer: Introduction to Feminist Philosophy. 3rd, revised edition. Ein-Fach, Aachen 2004, ISBN 3-928089-37-4 (2nd edition: dtv 1997, ISBN 3-423-30635-1 ).
  • Herta Nagl-Docekal : Feminist Philosophy: Results, Problems, Perspectives. 2nd Edition. Fischer, Frankfurt / M. 2001, ISBN 3-486-56082-4 , ISBN 3-7029-0387-9 .
  • Robin May Schott: Discovering Feminist Philosophy. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham 2003 (English).
  • Miranda Fricker, Jennifer Hornsby: Feminism in Philosophy. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2000 (English).
  • Cecile T. Tougas, Sara Ebenrick (Eds.): Presenting Women Philosophers. Temple University Press, Philadelphia 2000 (English).

Bibliographies:

  • Christiane Jörlemann, Kristin Konrad u. a .: Bibliography feminist / gender-sensitive theology. Seminar for Theological Research on Women, University of Münster 2009, pp. 2–4: Chapter I. Feminist theory and philosophy ( PDF: 165 kB, 33 pages on uni-muenster.de).
  • Marion Heinz , Sabine Doyé (ed.): Feminist Philosophy: Bibliography 1970–1995. Kleine, Bielefeld 1996, ISBN 3-89370-218-0 .

Dictionaries and manuals:

  • Alison M. Jaggar (Ed.): A companion to feminist philosophy. Blackwell, Malden, et al. a. 1998 (English; philosophy is taken here broadly, with a comprehensive overview of feminist theory formation).
  • Maggie Humm: The dictionary of feminist theory. 2nd Edition. Ohio State University, Columbus 1995, ISBN 0-8142-0667-0 (English).

Contributions to feminist philosophy:

Feminist ethics:

  • Barbara S. Andrew, Jean Keller, Lisa H. Schwartzman (Eds.): Feminist Interventions in Ethics and Politics. Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham 2005 (English).
  • Claudia Card (Ed.): Feminist Ethics. University of Kansas Press, Lawrence 1991 (English).
  • Peggy DesAutels, Joanne Waugh (Eds.): Feminists Doing Ethics. Rowman and Littlefield, Lanham 2001 (English).
  • Virginia Held: Feminist Morality, Transforming Culture, Society, and Politics. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1993 (English).
  • Virginia Held (Ed.): Justice and Care: Essential Readings in Feminist Ethics. Westview, Boulder 1995 (English).
  • Catriona Mackenzie, Natalie Stoljar (Eds.): Relational Autonomy: Feminist Perspectives on Autonomy, Agency, and the Social Self. Oxford University Press, New York 2000 (English).
  • Martha Nussbaum : Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2000 (English).

Magazines:

Web links

Item collections:

Academic Society:

Individual evidence