Feminist Philosophies A–Z N
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Feminist Philosophies A–Z N Nancy Arden McHugh a n c y PHILOSOPHY A–Z SERIES A GENERAL EDITOR: OLIVER LEAMAN r d These thorough, authoritative yet concise alphabetical guides introduce the e central concepts of the various branches of philosophy. Written by established n philosophers, they cover both traditional and contemporary terminology. M c Features H u Feminist Philosophies A–Z • Dedicated coverage of particular topics within philosophy g • Coverage of key terms and major figures h • Cross-references to related terms. Nancy Arden McHugh F A concise alphabetical guide to the key terms, issues, theoretical approaches, e projects and thinkers in feminist philosophy. m i Feminist Philosophies A-Z covers contemporary material in a number of feminist n approaches. It illustrates the complexity, range and interconnectedness of issues in i feminist philosophy while making clear the relationship of feminist philosophy to the s t rest of philosophy as a discipline (epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, social philosophy and metaphysics). Entries are pithy, detailed, informative and are cross-referenced to P guide the reader through the lively debates in feminism. h i l This volume is an indispensable resource for philosophers, students, and Women’s o Studies faculties as well as anyone with an interest in feminist philosophy. s o Nancy Arden McHugh is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Wittenberg p University, Ohio. She is the author of published articles on epistemology and on h i feminist theory in various philosophy journals. e s A – Z Cover design: River Design, Edinburgh E Edinburgh University Press d i 22 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LF barcode n b u www.eup.ed.ac.uk r g ISBN ????? h P1: OTE/SPH P2: OTE/SPH QC: OTE/SPH T1: OTE EUBK027-Mchugh.cls-Sabon March 1, 2007 15:22 FEMINIST PHILOSOPHIES A–Z i P1: OTE/SPH P2: OTE/SPH QC: OTE/SPH T1: OTE EUBK027-Mchugh.cls-Sabon March 1, 2007 15:22 Volumes available in the Philosophy A–Z Series Christian Philosophy A–Z, Daniel J. Hill and Randal D. Rauser Epistemology A–Z, Martijn Blaauw and Duncan Pritchard Ethics A–Z, Jonathan A. Jacobs Indian Philosophy A–Z, Christopher Bartley Jewish Philosophy A–Z, Aaron W. Hughes Philosophy of Language A–Z, Alessandra Tanesini Philosophy of Mind A–Z, Marina Rakova Philosophy of Religion A–Z, Patrick Quinn Philosophy of Science A–Z, Stathis Psillos Forthcoming volumes Aesthetics A–Z, Fran Guter Chinese Philosophy A–Z,BoMou Islamic Philosophy A–Z, Peter Groff Political Philosophy A–Z, Jon Pike ii P1: OTE/SPH P2: OTE/SPH QC: OTE/SPH T1: OTE EUBK027-Mchugh.cls-Sabon March 1, 2007 15:22 Feminist Philosophies A–Z Nancy Arden McHugh Edinburgh University Press iii P1: OTE/SPH P2: OTE/SPH QC: OTE/SPH T1: OTE EUBK027-Mchugh.cls-Sabon March 1, 2007 15:22 C Nancy Arden McHugh, 2007 Edinburgh University Press Ltd 22 George Square, Edinburgh Typeset in 10.5/13 Sabon by TechBooks India, and printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wilts A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 0 7486 2217 7 (hardback) ISBN 978 0 7486 2153 8 (paperback) The right of Nancy Arden McHugh to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. iv P1: OTE/SPH P2: OTE/SPH QC: OTE/SPH T1: OTE EUBK027-Mchugh.cls-Sabon March 1, 2007 15:22 Contents Series Editor’s Preface vi Introduction viii Acknowledgements xii Feminist Philosophies A–Z 1 Bibliography 158 v P1: OTE/SPH P2: OTE/SPH QC: OTE/SPH T1: OTE EUBK027-Mchugh.cls-Sabon March 1, 2007 15:22 Series Editor’s Preface Philosophy has traditionally been a very male form of activity, surprising perhaps given its place as a humanities discipline. Most professional philosophers today are men, and while it is not difficult to produce a list of important thinkers from the history of philosophy, it is difficult for many philosophy students to think of any women to include in such a list. There were in the past many female philosophers, but they have on the whole not been treated as of equal value as their male peers. This volume does not look at these female thinkers, however, since feminist philosophy is not the activity of philosophy as carried out by women. It is rather philosophy developed in a way that makes the issue of gender and everything that stems from it an important and even crucial theoretical concept. For example, philosophy has traditionally set out to ignore the gender and race context within which thought was pro- duced, working with a notion of objectivity and validity that transcends, or seeks to transcend, personal issues. The whole point of philosophy is to consider the arguments themselves and only peripherally the nature of the arguers, their cultural and social backgrounds, or so it was often argued. Feminist philosophy sets out to study philosophy within a particular context, the context in which it was produced and who pro- duced it, and considers these issues of context as significant in assessing the nature of the activity itself. Many women in phi- losophy have contributed to this activity, and Nancy McHugh provides here an introduction to some of the basic language vi P1: OTE/SPH P2: OTE/SPH QC: OTE/SPH T1: OTE EUBK027-Mchugh.cls-Sabon March 1, 2007 15:22 SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE vii and personalities in the area. Some of this language has become technical and requires explication, since it is used to bring out aspects of argument and theory that traditional philosophy has for a long time ignored. Much of this language involves a new way of looking at philosophy and it is the intention of this guide to make this easier to grasp and operate. Oliver Leaman P1: OTE/SPH P2: OTE/SPH QC: OTE/SPH T1: OTE EUBK027-Mchugh.cls-Sabon March 1, 2007 15:22 Introduction Feminist Philosophies A–Z is a reference covering contem- porary feminist philosophy. It is oriented toward students in feminist philosophy and women’s studies classes as well as a general audience interested in feminist theory. The goal of the A–Z Series is to provide pithy coverage of important termi- nology and figures in philosophy. Because of this there is a fair amount of breadth in the volumes, with depth in some areas, but not all. In Feminist Philosophies A–Z my goal is to have a represen- tative coverage of the field as well as to focus on some areas of feminist philosophy. In this volume I have tried to be par- ticularly conscious of areas of feminist philosophy that may have received less coverage in other references or are newer to feminist philosophy and are receiving increased coverage in feminist philosophy courses. For example, there are several entries devoted to debates in transnational feminism, Third World feminism and antiglobalisation. Furthermore, I have tried to show how debates in areas such as Chicana/Latina feminism, Black feminist thought and Third World feminism have informed other areas of feminist philosophy. Thus many general entries make reference to these areas to show the cross- fertilisation of ideas and make clear that feminist philosophy is an ongoing, critical practice that seeks growth and revi- sion. The volume is also attentive to many of the ongoing debates and ideas in feminist philosophy. For example, there are entries on reproductive rights, reproductive technologies, viii P1: OTE/SPH P2: OTE/SPH QC: OTE/SPH T1: OTE EUBK027-Mchugh.cls-Sabon March 1, 2007 15:22 INTRODUCTION ix postmodern feminism, radical feminism, Marxist feminism, the public/private distinction, feminist epistemology and fem- inist ethics. For the most part, I cover figures that consider themselves self-consciously feminist. So all the entries reflect twentieth- and twenty-first-century feminism, even though there may be figures in the history of philosophy, such as Mary Woll- stonecraft, that we now tend to talk about as feminist or hav- ing feminist ideals. I also include only women in this volume. Though there may be feminist men, for a variety of reasons I thought it was important to devote my limited space to the coverage of important women in feminist philosophy. I am sure that there are important female figures that I have left out. For this I apologise. There are so many women who have made significant and unique contributions to feminist philos- ophy, it is hard to give all of these figures the attention they are due. Because feminist philosophy still holds a marginal position in philosophy, all feminist work is noteworthy, is a challenge to the discipline and deserves recognition. In regards to the entries, for each entry on a feminist philoso- pher or feminist thinker I include country of origin and race or ethnicity. I realise that this might make some readers uncom- fortable, but I do it for a variety of interrelated reasons. Most feminists of colour identify their race or ethnicity because they view it as important to their theorising. Because their race or ethnicity is so central to their view of their work, I certainly wanted to include it in the description of their work. In do- ing so, it seems wrong not to include whiteness as a racial category for white feminist thinkers. Whiteness is a location from which white feminists theorise whether or not they are self-conscious of it. I didn’t want to further other women of colour by identifying their race as part of their epistemological location and not recognise that whiteness is a privilege, a place from which white women theorise from and a place to criti- cally interrogate.