Transcript Allison Jaggar Feminist Philosophy

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, 1961-64
 M. Litt. from University of Edinburgh, 1965-67
 Ph.D. from State University of New York at Buffalo,1967-
70
 1995 SWIP Distinguished Woman Philosopher of the
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
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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?