Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T02:27:10.299Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Resisting for other reasons*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Daniel Silvermint
Daniel Silvermint*
Affiliation:
Philosophy & WGSS, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
*
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Does a victim have to intend to resist oppression in order to discharge her obligation to do so, or is it sufficient to resist oppression intentionally in the course of pursuing other plans and projects of importance to her? I argue that resisting intentionally can be sufficient: given the ways that oppression interferes with the lives of victims, trying to counteract that interference by living the life you want is genuine resistance. Requiring that victims have justice-oriented or agency-preserving reasons before their actions count as resistance will distort or miss a wide range of everyday responses to oppressive burdens.

Keywords

Feminist philosophyintentionobjective well-beingoppressionresistanceself-regarding obligationssexism
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Philosophy , Volume 48 , Issue 1 , 2018 , pp. 18 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Journal of Philosophy 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This paper grew out of conversations with Michael McKenna. My thanks also to Mark Alfano, Sameer Bajaj, Donald Baxter, Paul Bloomfield, Amandine Catala, Ralph DiFranco, Crawford L. Elder, Katy Fulfer, Stan Husi, Suzy Killmister, Junyeol Kim, Alycia LaGuardia-LoBianco, Scott Lehmann, Hallie Liberto, Catherine Lu, Lorenz Lüthi, Michael Lynch, Simon Cabulea May, Kristina Meshelski, Ruth Millikan, Eugene Mills, Nenad Miscevic, Alastair Norcross, Julinna Oxley, Regina Rini, David Ripley, Marcus Rossberg, Colena Sesanker, Nathan Sheff, Matthew Smith, Patrick Smith, Rosa Terlazzo, Justin Weinberg, Samuel Wheeler, Jennifer Zamzow, two anonymous referees, and audiences at the Rocky Mountain Ethics Conference and the Bled Philosophical Conference on Ethics. I’ve also benefited greatly from the intellectual environments at the University of Arizona, McGill University, and the University of Connecticut, and from the support of the UConn Humanities Institute.

References

Anscombe, G. E. M. (1957) 2000. Intention. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Boxill, B. 2010. “The Responsibility of the Oppressed to Resist Their Own Oppression.” Journal of Social Philosophy 41(1): 1–12. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9833.2009.01474.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bratman, M. (1987) 1999. Intention, Plans, and Practical Reason. Stanford, CA: CSLI.Google Scholar
Bratman, M. 1985. “Davidson’s Theory of Intention.” In Essays on Davidson: Actions and Events, edited by Vermazen, Bruce and Hintikka, Merrill B.. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Crenshaw, K. 1989. “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics.” University of Chicago Legal Forum 1989(1): 139–167.Google Scholar
Cudd, A. 2006. Analyzing Oppression. New York: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/0195187431.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, D. 1980. Essays on Actions and Events. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Harvey, J. 2010. “Victims, Resistance, and Civilized Oppression.” Journal of Social Philosophy 41(1): 13–27. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9833.2009.01475.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hay, C. 2011. “The Obligation to Resist Oppression.” Journal of Social Philosophy 42(1): 21–45. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9833.2010.01518.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hay, C. 2013. Kantianism, Liberalism, and Feminism: Resisting Oppression. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 10.1057/9781137003904CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, T. Jr. 1973. “Servility and Self-Respect.” Monist 57(1): 87–104. doi: 10.5840/monist197357135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khader, S. 2011. Adaptive Preferences and Women’s Empowerment. New York: Oxford University Press. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199777884.001.0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Narayan, U. 2002. “Minds of Their Own: Choices, Autonomy, Cultural Practices, and Other Women.” Chap. 18 in A Mind of One’s Own: Feminist Essays on Reason and Objectivity, edited by Antony, Louise M. and Witt, Charlotte E.. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Silvermint, D. 2013. “Resistance and Well-Being.” Journal of Political Philosophy 21(4): 405–425. doi: 10.1111/jopp.12002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Varden, H. 2013. “Review of Carol Hay’s ‘Kantianism, Liberalism, and Feminism: Resisting Oppression’.” Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/44059-kantianism-liberalism-and-feminism-resisting-oppression/Google Scholar
Young, I. 1990. Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Young, I. 2006. “Responsibility and Global Justice: A Social Connection Model.” Social Philosophy and Policy 23(1): 102–130. doi: 10.1017/S0265052506060043.CrossRefGoogle Scholar