There’s been some interesting conversation (I first read about it on The Leiter Report) this past week about what philosophers should do to make their discipline less hostile to women, that has raised the cover on the depth of the problems and challenges women face through their involvement in the pursuit of wisdom.
The article linked to above has links to a couple of great philosophy blogs, that focus on feminist theory (like this and this–as a digression, the latter raises an interesting question of advising responsibility–I feel like part of my job is to inspire enthusiasm in the discipline for anyone interested, particularly for women given the scholarship need and relative dearth of women in the field, but if the field is out and out hostile to women, I can’t justly send them off to the wolves without informing them, right? But informing them will likely dampen their enthusiasm, and then…well, you can think through the rest. So what should I do when I have a woman sitting in a chair in my office asking about what it’s like to be a philosopher, do I give her a link to “What Is It Like To Be A Woman in Philosophy?” knowing that it’s likely to turn her away? What are the responsibilities of advisors for these sorts of fields–math and physics, inclusive?)
Lots of interesting reading and thinking.
The Harold Lounge 