Book Review: Rationality and Feminist Philosophy

Jan 14, 2011 by Farhang Erfani

A review of Deborah K. Heikes, Rationality and Feminist Philosophy, Continuum, 2010

This book is a defence of rationality, at least partly, on feminist grounds. In it Heikes argues that feminists should embrace rationality rather than giving it a bad press. There are, broadly speaking, two strands to Heikes’ argument. First, she claims that concepts dear to feminists such as justice, fairness, equality and rights are largely indefensible without a conception of ‘autonomous rationality’ (p. 16). Second, she argues that feminists should stop flogging a dead horse, since mainstream philosophy has largely abandoned the Cartesian conception of rationality that feminists like to flog.

via Deborah K. Heikes – Rationality and Feminist Philosophy – Reviewed by Alessandra Tanesini, Cardiff University – Philosophical Reviews – University of Notre Dame.