Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Feminism (PH358)

Men and women are treated differently simply because of their gender. Why do we, as a society, do this? In which ways is this unfair? What should we do about this?

These questions express the animating concerns behind the political movement of feminism. Broadly speaking feminism aims at the elimination of all gendered oppression. This module will engage with the philosophical upshots of reflection on this political movement. Typical topics covered will be the nature of genders, (what does it take to be a man, or a woman?); how does your social position affect what you are able to know, (are there some things that it’s easier to know as a man or a woman?); how does thinking about the relative social position of people of different genders affect political questions?

This module will place an emphasis on how thinking about feminism impacts on traditional philosophical issues in metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of language and political philosophy. We will see how feminist philosophy can contribute to these central questions in philosophy.

PH358

Module Director:

Kirk Surgener

CATS

This module is worth 15 CATS.