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Reflections on the Hypatia Controversy: Philosophical Methods and Social Justice

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Reflections on the Hypatia Controversy: Philosophical Methods and Social Justice Special Section: Editorial Reflections on the Hypatia Controversy: Philosophical Methods and Social Justice Alison Suen is an assistant professor of philosophy at his cluster of articles proceeds from a symposium Iona College, New York. She received her BA in Tfunded by both the Social Sciences and Human- Philosophy from the University of Northern Iowa in ities Research Council of Canada and Kule Institute 2006, and her PhD in Philosophy from Vanderbilt for Advanced Studies. The symposium took place in University in 2012. In 2015, she published The March 2017 at the University of Alberta on the topic Speaking Animal: Ethics, Language and the Human- of “Social Justice, Feminist Affects, and Philosophical animal Divide with Rowman and Littlefield Interna- Futures: Responding to the Hypatia Controversy.” tional. Her articles have appeared in philoSOPHIA: A Chloë Taylor, along with Ada Jaarsma of Mount Roy- Journal ofContinental Feminism and Teaching Philo- al University, was an organizer of this day-long sym- sophy. She is interested in various intersections posium, and Alison Suen was one of the seven between feminist philosophy and animal ethics, and presenters at this event. Given that the significance of her current research focuses on the ethics of con- lived experience for philosophical and social justice sumption. scholarship was frequently highlighted over the course of the original controversy, the organizers of this sym- Chloë Taylor is Associate Professor of Women’s and posium were careful to forefront the perspectives of Gender Studies at the University of Alberta. She has women-of-colour philosophers and social theorists a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Toronto and trans scholars. Atlantis agreed to publish a partial and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Philosophy de- proceedings from this event and, as editors, we con- partment at McGill University. Her research interests tinued to be mindful of the importance of lived ex- include twentieth-century French philosophy, philo- perience in seeking reviewers for this publication. sophy of gender and sexuality, food politics, critical animal studies, and animal ethics. She is the author Although feminist philosophers remain painfully di- of Foucault, Feminism, and Sex Crimes: An Anti-Car- vided over the events of April and May 2017, it is ceral Analysis (Routledge 2018), The Routledge agreed that these events raised an array of important Guidebook to Foucault’s The History of Sexuality ethical, disciplinary, social, and methodological ques- (Routledge 2016), and The Culture ofConfession from tions and marked a pivotal moment in the discipline. Augustine to Foucault (Routledge 2008), and co-edit- As Namrata Mitra argues in her article included in or of Feminist Philosophies of Life (McGill-Queens this issue, Rebecca Tuvel’s article was in fact an unex- University Press 2016) and Asian Perspectives on ceptional philosophical essay in terms of citational Animal Ethics (Routledge 2014). practice and argumentative style, and yet it was widely decried as having reinforced structural harms to marginalized people. What does this say about the norms of the tradition in which we, as feminist philo- sophers, have been trained? Must we, as philosophers, rethink our methods? Tuvel was criticized because, al- though she is white and cisgender, she wrote on a topic that most directly impacts trans people and people of colour. This raises questions about who has Atlantis Journal Issue 39.2 /2018 57 the authority to speak in a discipline that has tradi- Tuvel’s argument; specifically, Kapusta contends that tionally claimed to evaluate arguments based purely Tuvel’s argument inferentially excludes trans women on their purportedly objective logical merit. Given who do not pass as cisgender women, thereby reiter- the gravity of these questions, one of the primary ating the transexclusionary micro-aggression found in goals of this collection of essays is to explore the issue mainstream literature on philosophy of gender. “Non- of methodology in feminist philosophy. While the passing” trans woman philosophers who engage in three essays collected here come from different dis- Tuvel’s argument are then burdened with the addi- ciplines and traditions within and beyond philo- tional responsibility of having to show that they, too, sophy, they each expose presumptions hidden in the are women, while also suffering the psychological methods that philosophers traditionally employ. We harm of having their identity denied. believe this selection of essays contributes to conver- sation regarding philosophical methods. We hope For Kapusta, this argumentational injustice presents a that this collection will inspire philosophers and so- double bind. On the one hand, philosophers from cial justice theorists to continue to grapple with the socially marginalized groups offer an indispensable ethical import of their divergent methods. voice in arguments that concern their identity and oppression: not only do they have vested, existential * * * * interests in such debates, they are also more likely to diagnose fallacies and problematic assumptions hid- In “Benefits and Burdens of Engaging in Argumenta- den within these arguments. On the other hand, en- tion,” Stephanie Kapusta identifies two forms of “ar- gaging these arguments can be taxing for philosophers gumentation injustice” to which philosophers from from socially marginalized groups: the disproportion- marginalized groups are particularly vulnerable. She ate burden and exposure to potential harm could fur- argues that certain traditional ways of doing philo- ther alienate those whose voices are sorely needed in sophy—in particular, the excessive focus on logical- these debates. To adequately address this double bind, epistemic goals of argumentation—create two condi- Kapusta calls for a “major ‘overhaul’ of the profes- tions for injustice. First, it places disproportionate sional culture of philosophy.” Yet, given the difficulty burdens on philosophers who belong to marginalized of such a monumental task, Kapusta ends her paper groups; second, it exposes these philosophers to harm by acknowledging the urgency for socially marginal- (both cognitive and emotional). Kapusta persuasively ized philosophers to engage in debates that are dis- demonstrates that participants of an argumentational proportionately burdensome and risky, “even if full exchange relate to the argument in different ways: for enjoyment of the enticing goods on offer is denied to some, it is an intellectual exercise; for others, it is of [them]." existential import. Indeed, the latter could even ex- perience psychological harm when they engage in an Kapusta’s essay invites us to consider important ques- argument that does not fully recognize their identity tions regarding our responsibilities as philosophers. and oppression. As such, philosophers experience How can we argue responsibly? What can we respons- differential burdens and risks, despite the fact that a ibly argue about? And perhaps more controversially, philosophical exchange of reason is supposed to be who is responsible for engaging an argument? Implicit impartial. Using Tuvel’s essay as her case study, in this call is the recognition that contexts matter. The Kapusta argues that insofar as trans* philosophers are specific ways we have been trained to argue, as well as especially invested in argumentational exchanges that the standard we use to evaluate an argument, are both concern their identity, they shoulder a disproportion- products of our professional culture. As such, to ad- ate burden (both cognitively and emotionally) when dress the injustice instantiated by certain argumenta- they engage in such exchanges. For example, accord- tional practices, we must address the professional ing to Kapusta, there is an implicit misgendering in culture from which such practices emerged. Atlantis Journal Issue 39.2 /2018 58 The issue of responsible argumentation and the ur- Indeed, once we go beyond the confines of academic gent need to interrogate our discipline take center philosophy and contextualize Tuvel’s article within the stage in Namrata Mitra’s “Disciplinary Matters in the broader social-political history in America, we can Hypatia Controversy.” In her essay, Mitra articulates begin a conversation on methodology in a more prof- the importance of contextualization when theorizing itable way. As mentioned above, one common charge social and political issues. Like Kapusta, Mitra also against Tuvel’s article is the argument’s reliance on critiques a method of doing philosophy that has long identity analogies. Critics of Tuvel have argued that been the standard: specifically, she argues that the gender-identification and racial-identification are not method of abstraction favoured by traditional philo- in fact analogous. Therefore, justifications for trans- sophy often produces illusions of objectivity and uni- gender identification do not translate into justifica- versality. Mitra contends that the problem is not just tions for transracial identification. Using the works of that we do “bad philosophy” when we presume our Serena Mayeri and Janet Halley, Mitra examines the particular history, context, and identity to be univer- efficacy and perils of various forms of identity analo- sal; beyond this, such a presumption has been com- gies in American civil rights advocacy. From the ana- plicit in colonialism and other forms of oppression. logy between the right to religious practice and queer Drawing from both feminist
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