The A to Z of Feminist Philosophy by Catherine Villanueva Gardner

Author:Catherine Villanueva Gardner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2006-04-14T04:00:00+00:00

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KANT, IMMANUEL (1724–1804). German philosopher Immanuel Kant was born on April 22, 1724, in what was then Königsberg, East Prussia. Kant started university in Königsberg in 1740 but did not complete his degree; during the following years he worked as a teacher of children. Kant’s first publication was Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces (1747). In 1754, he resumed his university studies, and this period also marked the commencement of his philosophical career.

Kant’s contribution to the discipline of philosophy has afforded him recognition as one of its pivotal figures; however, he has been frequently criticized by feminist philosophers, both for the explicit sexism in his works and for the masculinist nature of his philosophy. While there is no doubt that Kant’s views on women are inherently sexist, the fundamental question asked by feminist philosophical readers of Kant is what this entails for our understanding of his philosophical theories. Current feminist critique of Kant’s philosophy does not explore the whole spectrum of his philosophy; rather, it has tended to focus on Kantian ethics and the Kantian conception of rationality. Of these two, the analysis of Kantian ethics has dominated discussion among feminist philosophers.

The crucial texts for feminist criticism of Kantian philosophy have been Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime (1764) and the works on ethics, in particular The Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785). It is in the former, earlier work that Kant sets the stage for his views on ethics and rationality that have been the central target of critique. In this work, Kant espouses a sex complementarian view of the different moral natures of the sexes. He holds that men are more naturally inclined to reflection and reason, while women are more naturally inclined to the emotional and the “beautiful.” It is this aesthetic sense, or their “beautiful understanding,” that prompts women to recoil from ugly actions: actions that are morally wrong. Despite his emphasis on the emotional nature of women, Kant is not claiming that women are completely bereft of the capacity to reason; rather, he holds that the development of their rationality would not serve what he sees as their moral and social function. For Kant, it is the institution of marriage that defines women’s function. He views marriage as a joining of the two complementary natures of the sexes: feeling (female) and rationality (male). Within this relationship, the two sexes then have complementary roles, with women’s role being to help refine their husbands and inspire them to lead a moral life. Kant held that this moral influence of women in the home would, ultimately, aid the civilization of humanity itself.

While Kant’s discussion of the nature and role of women seems irretrievably sexist, the philosophically troubling question is whether his account of the different natures of the sexes plays out in his moral philosophy itself. Feminist philosophers have argued that, on the most immediate level, the essential structure of Kant’s philosophy, combined with his “philosophy of women,” leads to

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