The Virtue Of Feminist Rationality (Bloomsbury Studies In Philosophy)

Feminist philosophers have been some of the most vocal critics of reason and rationality. While most feminists realize that rationality is a concept that cannot be entirely abandoned, few have considered how to construct a positive account of rationality. This book represents a sustained argument for a feminist theory of rationality. It opens by asking the question: is reason inherently masculine? Deborah K. Heikes goes on to answer this question negatively and to examine what feminists actually want from a theory of rationality, specifying what a virtue theory of rationality is and how it works. She identifies those features that feminists believe are central to reason, identifying four dichotomies that are central to feminist thinking (mind/body, reason/emotion, identity/difference, objectivity/subjectivity), and argues that they can be captured by conceiving of rationality as a virtue concept. She further demonstrates how a specifically feminist theory of rationality can provide objective grounds for feminists' moral, political and epistemic agendas.

• • Author: Deborah K. Heikes
• • Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• • Publication Date: Jan 23, 2014
• • Number of Pages: 224 pages
• • Language: English
• • Binding: Paperback
• • ISBN-10: 1472533453
• • ISBN-13: 9781472533456