Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T17:11:56.320Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Against a Sequestered Philosophy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2018

EYJA M. BRYNJARSDÓTTIR
EYJA M. BRYNJARSDÓTTIR*
Affiliation:
University of Iceland
*
*<[email protected]>
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper argues that philosophical practice in the Western world, in particular analytic philosophy, suffers from problems that contribute to its lack of diversity in two senses: the exclusion of women and minorities, and a narrow choice of subjects and methods. This is not fruitful for philosophical exchange and the flourishing of philosophical thought. Three contributing factors are covered: a flawed execution when instilling intellectual humility; the gaslighting of women in philosophy; and an overemphasis on a narrow conception of intelligence. The conclusion calls for a more humane and socially aware practice of philosophy.

Cet article soutient que la pratique philosophique dans le monde occidental, en particulier la philosophie analytique, souffre de problèmes qui contribuent à son manque de diversité, et ce, dans deux sens : l’exclusion des femmes et des minorités, et un choix étroit de sujets et de méthodes. Ceci n’est fructueux ni pour l’échange philosophique ni pour l’épanouissement de la pensée philosophique. Trois facteurs y contribuant sont l’objet de la discussion : une pratique défectueuse au moment d’inculquer l’humilité intellectuelle, le «gaslighting» pratiqué à l’endroit des femmes en philosophie et une trop grande importance accordée à une conception étroite de l’intelligence. La conclusion en appelle à une pratique plus humaine et socialement consciente de la philosophie.

Keywords

genderdiversityculture of philosophygaslightingepistemic humility
Type
Special Issue: Philosophy and its Borders
Information
Dialogue: Canadian Philosophical Review / Revue canadienne de philosophie , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , June 2018 , pp. 443 - 464
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Philosophical Association 2018 

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.)

References

Abramson, Kate 2014 “Turning up the Lights on Gaslighting.” Philosophical Perspectives 28 (1): 1–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alcoff, Linda Martín (Ed.) 2003 Singing in the Fire: Stories of Women in Philosophy, New York: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
APA Member Demographics 2014–2016 Demographic Statistics on the APA Membership, FY2014 to FY2016. http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.apaonline.org/resource/resmgr/data_on_profession/Member_Demo_Chart_FY2016_rev.pdf. Accessed 25 September 2017.Google Scholar
Barnes, Elizabeth 2014 “Going Beyond the Fundamental: Feminism in Contemporary Metaphysics.” Proceedings of Aristotelian Society 114 (3): 335–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Battersby, Christine 1989 Gender and Genius: Towards a Feminist Aesthetics, Bloomington: Indiana University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Behrensen, Maren, and Kaliarnta, Sofia 2017 “Sick and Tired: Depression in the Margins of Academic Philosophy.” Topoi 36: 355–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benson, Paul 1994 “Free Agency and Self-Worth.” Journal of Philosophy 91 (12): 650–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cherry, Myisha, and Schwitzgebel, Eric 2016 “Like the Oscars #PhilosophySoWhite.” Los Angeles Times 4 March 2016, http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0306-schwitzgebel-cherry-philosophy-so-white-20160306-story.html. Accessed 30 May 2017.Google Scholar
Cudd, Ann 2006 Analyzing Oppression, Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cukor, George 1944 Gaslight. Film.Google Scholar
Dickinson, Thorold 1940 Gaslight. Film.Google Scholar
Dotson, Kristie 2012 “How Is This Paper Philosophy?” Comparative Philosophy 3 (1): 3–29.Google Scholar
Dotson, Kristie 2014 “Conceptualizing Epistemic Oppression.” Social Epistemology 28 (2): 115–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duca, Lauren 2016 “Donald Trump is Gaslighting America.” Teen Vogue 10 December 2016, https://www.teenvogue.com/story/donald-trump-is-gaslighting-america. Accessed 25 September 2017.Google Scholar
Fehr, Carla 2011 “What is in it for me? The benefits of diversity in scientific communities.” In Grasswick, Heidi (Ed.), Feminist epistemology and philosophy of science: Power in knowledge. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Feynman, Richard P. 1985 “Surely You’re joking, Mr. Feynman!”: (Adventures of a Curious Character), Feynman, Richard P. as told to Leighton, Ralph; edited by Hutchings, Edward, New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Fricker, Miranda 2007 Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frye, Marilyn 1983 “Oppression.” In The Politics of Reality (pp. 1–16). Freedom, California: Crossing Press.Google Scholar
Goguen, Stacey 2016 “Stereotype Threat, Epistemic Injustice, and Rationality.” In Brownstein, Michael and Saul, Jennifer (Eds.), Implicit Bias and Philosophy, Volume 1: Metaphysics and Epistemology (pp. 216–237). Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, Patrick 1938 Gas Light. Stage play.Google Scholar
Hutchison, Katrina 2013 “Sages and Cranks. The Difficulty of Identifying First-Rate Philosophers.” In Hutchison, Katrina and Jenkins, Fiona (Eds.), Women in Philosophy. What Needs to Change? (pp. 103–126). Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, Katharine 2014 “That’s not philosophy: feminism, academia and the double bind.” Journal of Gender Studies 23 (3): 262–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kidd, Ian James, Medina, José, and Pohlhaus, Gaile 2017 The Routledge Handbook of Epistemic Injustice, London/New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitcher, Philip 2011 “Philosophy Inside Out.” Metaphilosophy 42 (3): 248–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leslie, Sarah-Jane, Cimpian, Andrei, Meyer, Meredith, and Freeland, Edward 2015 “Expectations of brilliance underlie gender distributions across academic disciplines.” Science 347 (6219): 262–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meijers, Anthonie 2013 “Gender and Philosophy in the Netherlands.” New APPS Blog: http://www.newappsblog.com/2013/12/gender-and-philosophy-in-the-netherlands-guest-post.html. Accessed 27 September 2017.Google Scholar
Park, Eugene 2014 “Why I Left Academia: Philosophy’s Homogeneity Needs Rethinking.” Hippo Reads, Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hippo-reads/why-i-left-academia_b_5735320.html. Accessed 27 September 2017.Google Scholar
Pohlhaus, Gaile 2016 “Propaganda, Inequality, and Epistemic Movement.” Theoria 31 (3): 345–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rammstedt, Beatrice, and Rammsayer, Thomas H. 2000 “Sex differences in self-estimates of different aspects of intelligence.” Personality and Individual Differences 29 (5): 869–880.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, Robert C., and Jay Wood, W. 2003 “Humility and Epistemic Goods.” In DePaul, Michael and Zagzebski, Linda (Eds.), Intellectual Virtue: Perspectives from Ethics and Epistemology. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ruíz, Elena Flores 2014 “Musing: Spectral Phenomenologies: Dwelling Poetically in Professional Philosophy.” Hypatia 29 (1): 196–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, Sharon M. 2012 “Wisdom, Knowledge, and Rationality.” Acta Analytica 27 (2): 99–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salamon, Gayle 2009 “Justification and Queer Method, or Leaving Philosophy.” Hypatia 24 (1): 225–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saul, Jennifer 2013 “Implicit Bias, Stereotype Threat, and Women in Philosophy.” In Hutchison, Katrina and Jenkins, Fiona (Eds.), Women in Philosophy: What Needs to Change? (pp. 39–60). Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheman, Naomi 1995 “Symposium: Feminist Epistemology: Feminist Epistemology.” Metaphilosophy 26 (3): 177–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwitzgebel, Eric 2010 “On Being Good at Seeming Smart.” Schwitzsplinters: http://schwitzsplinters.blogspot.com/2010/03/on-being-good-at-seeming-smart.html. Accessed 30 May 2017.Google Scholar
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty 1988 Can the Subaltern Speak? Basingstoke: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Syzmanowicz, Agata, and Furnham, Adrian 2011 “Gender differences in self-estimates of general, mathematical, spatial and verbal intelligence: Four meta analyses.” Learning and Individual Differences 21 (5): 493–504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tschaepe, Mark 2016 “Addressing Microaggressions and Epistemic Injustice: Flourishing from the Work of Audre Lorde.” Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism 24 (1): 87–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitcomb, Dennis, Battaly, Heather, Baehr, Jason, and Howard-Snyder, Daniel 2015 “Intellectual Humility: Owning Our Limitations.” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 94 (3): 509–539.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Women in Philosophy in the UK 2011 Report prepared by SWIP-UK and the British Philosophical Association Committee for Women in Philosophy http://www.swipuk.org/notices/2011-09-08/Women%20in%20Philosophy%20in%20the%20UK%20(BPA-SWIPUK%20Report).pdf. Accessed 27 September 2017.Google Scholar