On
Feminist Ethics and Politics by
Claudia Card (Editor)
For years, mainstream feminist ethics focused
criticism on male supremacy. Feminist philosophers in this volume
adopt a less male-focused stance to look closely at oppression's
impact on women's agency and on women's relations with women.
Examining legal, social, and physical
relationships, these philosophers confront moral ambiguity, moral
compromise, and complicity in perpetuating oppression. Combining
personal experience with philosophical inquiry, they vividly
portray their daily engagement with oppression as both victims and
perpetrators. They explore such issues as how pornography silences
women and radical feminist politics' complicity in racism.
Among these insightful essays, Sandra Bartky
argues that women share guilt for racism when they benefit from it
without protest; Susan Brison reflects on uses of narrative in
trauma recovery from such experiences as being targeted for rape
or murder; Joan Callahan examines fallout of derogatory speech
directed at lesbians; Virginia Held proposes carrying care into
marketplaces and governments; and, in her introduction, Claudia
Card draws on Primo Levi's conception of "gray zones" in
exploring dangers of character damage to victims of misogyny.
A fitting companion to Card's highly regarded Feminist
Ethics, this volume interweaves observations on character,
political ethics, violence, and love into an accessible sourcebook
for students. It tackles some of feminism's most pressing issues
and helps readers to identify and then overcome the real damage
caused by oppression.
"Claudia Card has done it again. In assembling
these fascinating essays by leading feminist and lesbian
ethicists, she has provided an opportunity for exploring stretches
of the moral landscape that have, up until recently, been terra
incognita. The discussions of 'gray zones,' guilt, moral failure,
'greeting,' rape, hate speech, and joy don't just deepen our
understanding of these matters-they also show us that morality is
quite different from what the standing moral theories have taken
it to be."--Hilde L. Nelson, author of Feminism
and Families
"At its best, normative inquiry in
philosophy both enlightens and challenges us, encouraging us not
only to reflect on past wrongs but to envision a morally more
satisfactory, and politically more inclusive, future. The richly
varied essays in this volume, contributed by many of the most
influential feminist philosophers of the day, do all of that and
more. This anthology is a fine sequel to Feminist Ethics and, like
its predecessor, will surely help determine the shape and content
of feminist ethics and political philosophy for many years to
come."--Michele M. Moody-Adams, author of Fieldwork
in Familiar Places: Morality, Culture, and Philosophy
"It's not easy to do the right thing, form
just pictures of ourselves and take appropriate responsibility in
a life lived within multiple simultaneous systems of oppression.
In this volume, feminist ethics is philosophically and morally
subtle enough to really help. Don't look here for innocence or
closure, but find here a certain gritty clarity about the
murky."--Marilyn Frye, author of The
Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory
About The Author
Claudia Card, professor of philosophy at the
University of Wisconsin, is the author of Lesbian
Choices and The
Unnatural Lottery: Character and Moral Luck and the editor
of Feminist Ethics
and Adventures in Lesbian Philosophy.
Contributors: Claudia Card, Sandra Lee Bartky,
Marcia L. Homiak, Cheshire Calhoun, Iris Marion Young, Amber L.
Katherine, Jacqueline Anderson, Anna Stubblefield, Robin May
Schott, Susan J. Brison, Lynne Tirrell, Joan C. Callahan, Chris J.
Cuomo, Virginia Held, Sharon Bishop, Jean P. Rumsey.
