Universität Wien

180116 VO-L Feminist Philosophy (2025W)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Moodle
We 10.12. 15:00-16:30 Hörsaal 50 Hauptgebäude, 2.Stock, Stiege 8

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Details

Language: English

Examination dates

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Wednesday 15.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 50 Hauptgebäude, 2.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Wednesday 22.10. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 50 Hauptgebäude, 2.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Tuesday 28.10. 08:00 - 09:30 Hörsaal III NIG Erdgeschoß
  • Wednesday 05.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 50 Hauptgebäude, 2.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Wednesday 12.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 50 Hauptgebäude, 2.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Wednesday 19.11. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 50 Hauptgebäude, 2.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Wednesday 03.12. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 50 Hauptgebäude, 2.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Wednesday 17.12. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 50 Hauptgebäude, 2.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Wednesday 07.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 50 Hauptgebäude, 2.Stock, Stiege 8
  • Tuesday 13.01. 08:00 - 09:30 Hörsaal III NIG Erdgeschoß
  • Wednesday 21.01. 15:00 - 16:30 Hörsaal 50 Hauptgebäude, 2.Stock, Stiege 8

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This course introduces students to key concepts and arguments of contemporary feminist philosophy. Topics covered will include sex/gender, the nature and significance of gender identity, intersectionality, objectification, pornography, consciousness raising, and decolonial feminism.

We will read and think about texts by Simon de Beauvoir, Sally Haslanger, Angela Davis, Serena Khader, Sandra Bartky, Catherine MacKinnon, Patricial Hill Collins and others.

There will be an assigned reading for each lecture. The lecture will both provide context and additional theory as well as providing an opportunity for discussion and questions. Students are expected to come to lecture having done the readings in advance.

This lecture course will not be recorded; detailed handouts will be made available.

Assessment and permitted materials

There will be a final exam in the last session. The exam will consist of:
1. A multiple choice part: (12 points)
2. Open questions (16 points)

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

In order to receive a passing grade, you have to achieve:
- at least 6 points on the multiple choice part
and
- at least 8 points on the open questions.

Grading key (final grade):
25-28 points -> grade: 1
21-24 points -> grade: 2
18-20 points -> grade: 3
14-17 points -> grade: 4
0-13 points -> grade: 5

Examination topics

The exam questions will cover:
- required readings
- lecture material.

Reading list

Sample readings (full reading list will be made availabe on Moodle):
Catharine MacKinnon, Towards a Feminist Theory of the State. Chapters 6 and 7.
Sandra Lee Bartky, 'Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power.
Nussbaum, Martha C. "Objectification." Philosophy & Public Affairs 24.4 (1995): 249-291.
Garcia, M. (2021). We are not born submissive: How patriarchy shapes women's lives. Princeton University Press.
Simone De Beauvoir, H. M. "The second sex." (1953).
Haslanger, Sally, 1993, “On Being Objective and Being Objectified”, in A Mind of One’s Own. Feminist Essays on Reason and Objectivity, Louise M. Antony and Charlotte Witt (eds.), Boulder, San Francisco, Oxford: Westview Press, 209–253.
Langton, Rae, 2009, Sexual Solipsism: Philosophical Essays on Pornography and Objectification, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 13.10.2025 06:46