Deconstructing the Paradox of Modernity: Feminism, Enlightenment, and Cross-Cultural Moral Interactions
Journal of Religious Ethics 23 (2):333 - 363 (1995)
| Abstract | Feminist ethics has questioned the limits of and possibilities for the recognition of moral diversity within the Enlightenment legacy of Western rationality and modern universalism. I pursue this question by reading two contemporary theorists, Jürgen Habermas and Seyla Benhabib, who express a strong commitment to the recognition of diversity within a reason-centered reading of the Enlightenment. Despite their strong commitments, however, neither Habermas nor Benhabib can ultimately maintain a balance between the poles of egalitarianism and universalism within the framework of Western rationality. As a result, they fail to recognize diversity fully. Through these readings, I suggest a feminist ethics which subversively appropriates the Enlightenment tradition. This feminist ethics de-centers rationality and dis-locates modernity in order to find an alternate path toward the fulfillment of Enlightenment promises of emancipation. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | No categories specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,709 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesJonathan I. Israel (2006/2008). Enlightenment Contested: Philosophy, Modernity, and the Emancipation of Man, 1670-1752. Oxford University Press.
Darrin M. McMahon (2001). Enemies of the Enlightenment: The French Counter-Enlightenment and the Making of Modernity. Oxford University Press.
Lorraine Landry (2000). Beyond the 'French Fries and the Frankfurter': An Agenda for Critical Theory. Philosophy and Social Criticism 26 (2):99-129.
Daniel Carey (2006). Locke, Shaftesbury, and Hutcheson: Contesting Diversity in the Enlightenment and Beyond. Cambridge University Press.
Jon P. Gunnemann (1988). Human Rights and Modernity: The Truth of the Fiction of Individual Rights. Journal of Religious Ethics 16 (1):160 - 189.
Keith Michael Baker & Peter Hanns Reill (eds.) (2001). What's Left of Enlightenment?: A Postmodern Question. Stanford University Press.
Norman Geras & Robert Wokler (eds.) (1999). The Enlightenment and Modernity. St. Martin's Press.
Charles W. Mills (2002). Defending the Radical Enlightenment. Social Philosophy Today 18:9-29.
Robert Anchor (1967/1979). The Enlightenment Tradition. University of California Press.
Henry Vyverberg (1989). Human Nature, Cultural Diversity, and the French Enlightenment. Oxford University Press.
Kenneth R. Westphal (2002). ‘Rationality and Relativism: The Historical and Contemporary Significance of Hegel’s Response to Sextus Empiricus’. Esercizi Filosofici 6:22--33.
Susan Mendus (2000). Feminism and Emotion: Readings in Moral and Political Philosophy. St. Martin's Press.
Analytics
Monthly downloads
Sorry, there are not enough data points to plot this chart.
|
Added to index2011-05-29Total downloads1 ( #275,053 of 550,854 )Recent downloads (6 months)0How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
