Gender, Politics, & Philosophy (221-0-20)
Instructors
Penelope L Deutscher
847/491-5293
Kresge 3245
Meeting Info
University Hall 122: Tues, Thurs 6:30PM - 7:50PM
Overview of class
This class introduces students to a variety of philosophical problems concerning gender and politics. Together, we'll read classic and contemporary texts that examine questions such as: what is gender -- and how, if it all, does it relate to or differ from sex? What does it really mean to be a woman or a man -- and are these categories we'r e born into or categories that we become or inhabit through living in a particular way under specific conditions? Human history all the way up to the present seems to be rife with asymmetrical relations of power that relegate those marked out as women to a subordinate position -- what explains this? What would it mean to over turn this state of affairs -- and which strategies are most likely to accomplish this task? And to what extent is it possible to grapple with all of the above questions -- questions of gender, sex and sexuality -- without also, at the very same time, thinking about how they relate to questions of class and race? Readings will include selections from Simone de Beauvoir, Iris Marion Young, Sandra Bartky, bell hooks, Patricia Hill Collins, Judith Butler, Talia Bettcher, and others.
Learning Objectives
Students will be introduced to dominant historical philosophical paradigms for formulating rights claims and related concepts of freedom and recognition. In these contexts, students will be introduced to major thinkers associated with a western canon of significant historical arguments concerning sex and gender. The course offers an opportunity for critical evaluation by students of the strategies and vindications adopted by those traditionally denied rights. Students will be exposed to a number of approaches for critically assessing such claims and justifications as a history of strategic decisions. The class equips participants to ask whether these various choices — and their conditions — have been problematic or promising? Finally, the course will enable students to assess and situate a number of contemporary rights claims in the light of their understanding of this history.
Evaluation Method
Attendance
Class participation
Final Paper
Papers
Presentation
Quizzes
Class Materials (Required)
A course reader will be available for purchase at Quartet.
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT,
A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN, ABRIDGED, RELATED TEXTS
HACKETT
2013
ISBN-10: 1603849386
ISBN-13: 978-1603849388
Class Notes
Attendance of first class is mandatory.
Class Attributes
Ethics & Values Distro Area
Associated Classes
DIS - Parkes Hall 214: Fri 10:00AM - 10:50AM
DIS - Kresge Centennial Hall 2-440: Fri 11:00AM - 11:50AM
DIS - Kresge Centennial Hall 2-343: Fri 2:00PM - 2:50PM
DIS - Kresge Centennial Hall 2-331: Fri 3:00PM - 3:50PM