THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO

LONDON CANADA

DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY 1999-2000 COURSE OUTLINE

Philosophy 431F/533A Feminist Ethics

Instructor: Professor T. Isaacs, TC 412, 661-2111, ext. 5770

E-mail: tisaacs@julian.uwo.ca

Classes: Mondays 1-4 p.m., TC340

Office hours (fall): Tuesdays and Wednesdays 2-4, and by appointment

Please read and follow the list of Philosophy Department procedures posted on the back of this outline. Students are responsible for being aware of and following these procedures.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This course will be conducted as a discussion-based seminar. First, we’ll consider what sorts of criteria are relevant for deciding whether a given moral theory counts as feminist. Then we’ll examine some candidate feminist moral theories both in terms of their theoretical adequacy and their ability to address moral problems of special concern to feminists. We’ll also ask whether theory is part of the patriarchal history of ethics and ought therefore to be abandoned in favour of anti-theory. In addition, we’ll explore the relationship between feminist moral theory, responsibility, and feminist political action.

Required texts (available at the UWO Bookstore):

Feminist Ethics, Claudia Card, editor (Kansas University Press, 1991)

Feminine and Feminist Ethics, Rosemarie Tong (Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1993)

Photo-copy pack of selected readings (available at Inprint)

Course requirements:

1. Each student will be required to prepare one page of commentary on the week’s readings, ready to be presented in class and handed in at the end of the meeting. These will be worth 2% each, up to a total of 20% of the final grade. You may skip two of them without penalty. As a discussion-based seminar, this class works well only if you attend each class with your commentary prepared in advance. Please note that I accept commentaries only from students who attend the relevant class meeting, and I only accept commentaries prepared in advance of the relevant class meeting.

2. For the other 80% of your grade, choose ONE of the following options:

A. One 12-15 page term paper, due on December 6 (80%),

or

B. One 6 page paper due on October 18 (30%) and one 9-10 page term paper, due on December 6 (50%).

If I do not receive a paper from you on October 18, I shall assume that you have chosen the first option. Please respect all due dates.

A detailed schedule of readings and assignments will be distributed at the first class meeting.

This outline is subject to change with sufficient prior notice.