The APA is excited to announce a new series of the APA Blog called “Women in Philosophy,” which will operate under the auspices of the Committee on the Status of Women (CSW) of the APA. The vision for the series is to showcase the diverse voices of women in philosophy, to address issues of specific concern to women in philosophy as a discipline, and to offer a platform for philosophers to speak to issues of concern to women in the public square.
The space will be one that has an outward as well as an inward focus. The series is concerned with thinking about issues of concern to women as well as with feminist philosophy and news within the profession. We look to address how these issues intersect with issues of race, sexuality, disability, and other traditionally neglected theories and identities, and encourage people to attend the panels co-sponsored by the CSW at the Pacific meeting of the APA. Posts will include reports on feminist philosophy conferences, women’s perspectives on their experiences in philosophy, discussions about equity in the profession, reports from women in various positions of leadership in the field, feminist pedagogy ideas and similar posts whose focus is on women within the field of philosophy. The series also aims to showcase the ways that philosophy is put to work to illuminate issues of concern to women in public life and to be responsive to current events in the world (as well as in the field). We look forward to showcasing the multiple ways of being a woman in philosophy and to engaging philosophically with issues of concern to women.
We are particularly interested in offering a space for women in philosophy who are not regularly featured in public fora, including graduate students and adjunct faculty.
The Women in Philosophy series welcomes submissions, which should follow the APA Blog guidelines. Submissions will be subject to review by the series editor, Adriel M. Trott, Associate Professor at Wabash College, and should be sent to trotta@wabash.edu
The series comes about through the work of the members of the Committee on the Status of Women in conjunction with the series editor and through their ongoing support. Members include:
- Charlotte Witt, Chair, University of New Hampshire
- Peggy DesAutels, ex officio, University of Dayton
- Peter Railton, University of Michigan
- Lisa Shapiro, Simon Fraser University
- Yolonda Y. Wilson, Howard University
- Margaret Atherton, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
- Amy R. Baehr, Hofstra University
- Michael C. Rea, Notre Dame University
- Rachel V. McKinnon, College of Charleston
- Julinna C. Oxley, Coastal Carolina University
- Katie Stockdale, Sam Houston State University
- Serena Parekh, Newsletter Editor, Northeastern University
I’d be interested to read how women philosophers regard what I see to be a central issue of our age, the marriage of violent men and an accelerating knowledge explosion.
There appears to be a culture wide assumption that because civilization has survived violent men until now that this will always continue to be so. It seems that an accelerating knowledge explosion which gives everyone, including violent men, vast new powers brings this assumption starkly in to question.
Kim Jong-un of North Korea can now drop a nuke on any American city. This is hardly the end of the story as smaller and smaller powers will increasingly gain access to powers of this scale. It’s inevitable that at some point such powers will be acquired by non-state actors such as terrorists, drug cartels etc.
If we continue on the present course it seems only a matter of time until violent men use the emerging existential scale powers to crash civilization.
How do women perceive this possibility? Should we scale back the knowledge explosion, thus reducing the powers available to everyone? Should we try to get rid of violent men? No society in history has succeeded in doing this, so what new factors might make it possible? Should we get rid of all men, is that the only hope?
If it is true that violent men are on course to crash civilization, if that is true, what is the logic of discussing pretty much anything else?
For now I am labeling this as a “woman’s issue” because after years of discussing this I’ve given up hope that men will be able to successfully address this challenge.
Somebody speak to this please, thanks!
I would like to read women philosophers exploring beyond the group consensus. I’m hoping that some will tackle the largest of topics. Here’s an example of what I hope to find in the coming article series…
Are men worth it?
The vast majority of violence at every level is overwhelmingly generated by men.
This violence comes at a high cost, not only to the many victims, but also to society at large in the form of a huge financial burden. We spend what must be trillions each year around the world on armies, police, jails, prisons, criminal justice systems, rebuilding war torn countries etc.
Imagine for a moment that most of these trillions of dollars could be spent not on violence, but on education and health care. Imagine a world with radically less violence, dramatically fewer victims, almost no rampant destruction, and mountains of new resources available for constructive purposes. Imagine “world peace” becoming largely a reality, instead of just a dreamy slogan.
Imagine a world without men.
Are men worth it? Are men worth walking away from such a near utopia, and staying instead here in today’s world that’s filled with the suffering of so many innocent victims, and always only one bad day away from total catastrophe? Are we worth it? Are we? Really?
My hope is that “women’s issues” are not just about the details of getting a seat at the table in the corrupt and dying male dominated status quo. My hope is that women’s issues are instead about challenging this rotting carcass at every level and in every way possible.
Please, think big, write boldly, imagine a radically better world and help bring in to being, while there’s still time. What a very long male dominated history teaches us is that if you don’t bring that better world in to being, it’s not going to happen.
Sometimes it helps come down off theory mountain and focus on some specific example.
I will assume you are well aware of the multiple conflicts that seem to always be underway in the Middle East, and the impact this chronic pattern of violence has on innocent women and children across the region.
What if there were no men in the Middle East?
Imagine that you are living in Syria or Yemen, or any of the countries dominated by ruthless despots and their never ending violent repression of their people.
If you could choose the status quo with men, or peace (and thus probably prosperity) across the region without men, which would you choose?
If world peace was possible within the set of ideas considered normal and reasonable, we’d already be there.