Download Feminist Moral Psychology

Feminist Moral Psychology
Instructor: Francey Russell
Course Description
How does systematic oppression shape the human mind? Traditional moral psychology
studies human beings’ psychological relationship with morality, and analyzes our cognitive,
affective, and behavioral relationships to good and bad, right and wrong. A feminist moral
psychology analyzes how these relationships are formed and deformed under conditions of
sexism. It seeks to clarify how oppression affects our capacities for agency, those
traditionally thought necessary for moral agency (like self-respect), as well as those capacities
believed to be destructive to agency (like ambivalence). A feminist moral psychology also
analyzes the extent to which agency depends not just on an individual’s capacities, but on the
larger social and political world. Thus a feminist moral psychology challenges any strict
distinction between psychology and sociality. Questions that will orient this course include
the following: are victims of oppression responsible for their actions in the way that
philosophy has traditionally imagined? do victims have anything like an obligation to resist
their oppression? how does patriarchy form and transform human sexuality and desire?
what is the moral and political significance of emotions like resentment and shame? And
finally, what might reparation or healing look like in a gendered world organized by sexism?
In exploring these questions, we will turn not only to feminist philosophy and theory, but
also to some select feminist works of art. This will serve the purpose of providing us with
concrete examples of different modes of pursuing the idea of a feminist moral psychology.
We begin the course with two introductory discussions to orient us in the discipline of
feminist moral psychology. We then start the first substantial section of the course by
reading classic texts from the history of moral philosophy and moral psychology, paired with
feminist rejoinders. We do this both because some feminist moral psychology directly
responds to and critiques figures and concepts from the canon, and because these
philosophers provide some of the central ideas we will consider throughout the class. In the
second section, we analyze the concept of agent-responsibility. We will read about the
concepts of moral luck and deformed desire, as these are features of human life that seem to
fall outside the domain of agent-responsibility, and even to compromise an individual’s
capacity for responsible agency. Then we consider how agent-responsibility differs with
respect to victims, and with respect to oppressors and those who—thanks to luck alone—
fall into the group that is systematically privileged under patriarchy. In the third section of
the course we turn to the question of mind, first discussing what systems of gender
oppression do to the mind of oppressors and those in positions of privilege, and then
turning to psychoanalytic theories of gender and sexuality in conditions of sexism and
heterosexism. Finally, in the last section of the course, we consider psychic and affective
responses to these conditions, paying special attention to so-called “negative” states such as
ambivalence, rage, and resentment. The question animating this section is: can these
“negative” states constitute a healthy and politically productive response to oppression? We
close the course by looking at the idea of the work of moral repair, from the perspective of
social justice and from the perspective of mental and emotional well-being.
This course is suitable for students who have not worked in either philosophy or feminism,
and those who have already studied in these fields.
Course Aims
The course has three pedagogical aims. First, the course will introduce students to key
figures in the history of philosophical moral psychology (Aristotle and Kant). The second
aim of the course is to familiarize students with current debates in feminist moral
psychology. Third, the course strives to develop students’ skills at analyzing and engaging
philosophically with challenging texts. This will be attained through close readings of the
texts themselves and extensive class discussion, as well as through written assignments (see
Course Requirements)
Course Requirements
Participation. (15% of grade).
Students are required to come to class prepared and to participate actively in class discussion.
Being prepared does not mean that you will be expected to understand everything, and
active participation includes not just speaking up, but actively listening and following others’
contributions. Since this is a seminar, equal and active participation is essential.
No more than two absences are permitted. Every absence beyond two will lead to the final
grade being docked one increment (e.g., A- to B+, C to C-).
Presentation. (15% of grade).
Students will give a short presentation on one of the assigned readings, focusing on a
passage or problem they find especially interesting. They will also guide the discussion
following their presentation. Students will have the option of doing their presentation with a
partner.
Two essay assignments. (30% and 40% of grade). (roughly 7 pages each)
I will meet with students before both of their essays are due to discuss their topic and
strategy. I will also meet with students after they receive their grade for their first essay, to
discuss what worked and what they could improve upon.
Weekly Schedule of Readings
1: Introduction (no reading)
2: Introduction: What is “Feminist” Moral Psychology?
Charles Mills. “‘Ideal Theory’ as Ideology.”
Margaret U. Walker. “Feminist Ethics and Human Conditions.”
____________. Introduction to Moral Psychology: Feminist Ethics and Social Theory
Optional:
Margaret U. Walker. “Feminism, Ethics, and the Question of Theory.”
Keith Burgess-Jackson. “The Problem with Contemporary Moral Theory.” (reply to Walker)
Margaret U. Walker. “Thinking Morality Interpersonally.” (reply to Burgess-Jackson)
I—Moral Psychology in the Canon of Philosophy
3: Aristotle
Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. Books I & III.
Marcia Homiak. “Feminism and Aristotle's Rational Ideal.”
Martha Nussbaum. “Aristotle, Feminism, and Needs for Functioning.”
4: Kant and the Idea of Self-Respect
Immanuel Kant. Groundwork I & II, selections from The Metaphysics of Morals.
Cynthia Stark. “The Rationality of Valuing Oneself: A Critique of Kant on Self-Respect.”
5: Feminist Conceptions of Self-Respect
Robin S. Dillon. “Towards a Feminist Conception of Self-Respect.”
Diana T. Meyers. “The Politics of Self-Respect: A Feminist Perspective.”
6: Self-Respect and the Problem of Deference
Thomas Hill. “Servility and Self-Respect.”
Marilyn Friedman. “Moral Integrity and the Deferential Wife.”
Bernard Boxill and Jan Boxill. “Servility and Self-Respect: An African-American and
Feminist Critique.”
II—Agent-Responsibility Under Sexism
7: The Idea of Moral Luck
Claudia Card. “Gender and Moral Luck.”
Lisa Tessman. “Regretting the Self One Is.”
Optional: Bernard Williams. “Moral Luck.”
8: Adaptive Preferences and Deformed Desires
John Christman. “Coping or Oppression: Autonomy and Adaptation to Circumstance.”
Natalie Stoljar. “Autonomy and Adaptive Preference Formation.”
*art case studies: Jenny Holzer.
9. Agent-Responsibility
Claudia Card. “Responsibility and Moral Luck.”
Paul Benson. “Feeling Crazy: Self-Worth and the Social Character of Responsibility.”
10. Responsibility of the Oppressed (and the Risk of Victim-Blaming)
Anita Superson, M. “Right-Wing Women: Causes, Choices, and Blaming the Victim.”
Carol Hay. “Whether to Ignore Them and Spin: Moral Obligations to Resist Sexual
Harassment.”
Lisa Tessman. “The Damage of Moral Damage.”
11. Responsibility of the Oppressors
Cheshire Calhoun. “Responsibility and Reproach.”
Michelle Moody-Adams. “Culture, Responsibility, and Affected Ignorance.”
III—The Mind Under Sexism
12: The Oppressor’s Mind
Lisa Tessman. “The Ordinary Vices of Domination.”
Anita Superson. “Privilege, Immorality, and Responsibility for Attending to the ‘Facts About
Humanity’”
Robin Dillon. “Critical Character Theory: Toward a Feminist Perspective on ‘Vice’ (and
‘Virtue’).”
13: Psychoanalytic Approaches to a Feminist Moral Psychology: From the Clinic
Nancy Chodorow. “Psychoanalytic Feminism and the Psychoanalytic Psychology of
Women.”
________. “Feminism, Femininity, and Freud.”
14: Psychoanalytic Approaches to a Feminist Moral Psychology: From Continental
Philosophy
Judith Butler. “Melancholy Gender/Refused Identification.”
Kelly Oliver. “Why Turn to Psychoanalysis for a Social Theory of Oppression?”
________. “Alienation as Perverse Privilege of the Modern Subject.”
15: Sexuality and Desire
Monique Wittig. “The Straight Mind.”
Patricia Hill Collins. “Why Black Sexual Politics?”
Jessica Benjamin. “Women’s Desire.”
*art case study: Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher.
IV—Responses to Sexism and the Possibility of Repair
16: Integrity and Ambivalence
Judith Butler. “Psychic Inceptions: Melancholy, Ambivalence, Rage.”
Maria Lugones. “Playfulness, ‘World’-Travelling, and Loving Perception.”
*art case study: Cindy Sherman
17: Rage and Resentment.
bell hooks. “Killing Rage: Militant Resistance.”
Macalester Bell. “A Woman’s Scorn: Towards a Feminist Defense of Contempt as a Moral
Emotion”
Audre Lorde. “Uses of Anger.”
18: Reparations and Healing.
Margaret U. Walker. “Moral Vulnerability and the Task of Reparations.”
bell hooks. “Healing Our Wounds: Liberatory Mental Health Care.”
Audre Lorde. “Uses of the Erotic: the Erotic as Power.”
19: Last class (no reading)