Feminist Thinking Essay -- Feminsim Philosophy Philosophical Essays

Feminist Thinking It has been said that not everything worth reading is a philosophical argument., and I agree. A glance through the shelves of bookstores, news stands, and libraries will incline one away from the idea that all valuable reading is philosophy. Thoughts back upon experiences that have touched one’s life undoubtedly will include an important novel or story and confirm the original statement. It is also fair to say that people approach literature and philosophy with different expectations. It seems fair to expect one’s philosophical reading to impart knowledge, while not necessarily demanding this of poetry or a short story. Likewise, there are different settings, goals, and different relations that exist between reader and writer, and reader and recommender. Some reading may be for enjoyment, escapism, or metaphor while other is for personal knowledge acquisition and/or a class assignment. While this is not to say that I haven’t enjoyed much of the reading required o f me in the pursuit of my degree, I approached it all with an expectation that it should fit nicely within my preconceived notion of ‘Philosophy’. In this class I was presented with reading that broke out of that mold. I want to step back a little and work my way back into the literature from some distance. This is, I hope, a fair way of coming to an understanding of the field of feminist thinking. Assigning reading for a class, and reading the assignment that the instructor has assigned involves two parties and relations of power, overt or hidden. An assigned reading for a class by an instructor carries a stamp of approval- a legitimization. Presumably, the professor has read this piece and thinks it is cogent, readable, fits with the development... ..., ‘Caring,’ and is the obvious place to start. From this starting point it is quickly evident that some feminists will disagree with the characterization of women as care-givers. However this divergence is not altogether unexpected, and a host of possible places exist within the discursive space created by Noddings, and others, to vocalize. That the discursive space has been opened up in this new way is important. Annette C. Baier offers an historical development of traditional (Kantian) ethics and its shortcomings. With this and Noddings article the relevance of care-ethics becomes established. And although I do not share the optimism that care-ethics alone can offer a complete system of ethics, it is well argued that future systems need to account for its concerns. Care-ethics is feminist philosophy, while much of the other literature falls short of this title.