Philosophy 119

This class is an introduction to a range of historical and contemporary feminist issues. Is there an essential difference between women and men? If so, what is the nature of this difference and what are its moral, social, and political implications? If not, what explains the apparent differences? How do questions about gender intersect with questions about race, class, religion, and cross-cultural difference? Can a psychological account of how we tend to sort people into distinct social categories illuminate how we ought to understand these categories? Can assumptions about gender compromise scientific objectivity? This course introduces philosophy students to these and related questions in feminist thought, concluding with analyses of a few specific debates in contemporary feminist epistemology, ethics, and metaphysics. As taught this semester, Phil 119 satisfies the ethics requirement for the philosophy major.