Description
Book SynopsisA collection of essays examining the writings of William James. Provides a reinterpretation of pragmatism to devise philosophical resources for pragmatist feminism that challenge sexism and male privilege.
Trade Review“William James has often been praised for highlighting the more ‘feminine’ dimensions of philosophy, while being criticized for ignoring important ‘feminist’ considerations. The present volume focuses on and highlights this conundrum, and it does so in a rich and informative manner. James’s many contributions are acknowledged, but his work is viewed, and elaborated upon, from a broader perspective of feminism.”
—William Gavin,University of Southern Maine
“The authors show that James's work clearly presents difficulties for feminists and how feminists might engage with James's ethical philosophy, the role of the body, and matters of epistemology. The editing is well executed, and explanatory notes appear throughout. Though the book is best suited to scholars with a background in James's work, the descriptions and analyses are convincing and will be useful even to those without significant prior exposure to James.”
—M. K. Bloodsworth-Lugo Choice
“This volume represents some of the best applications of feminist pragmatist scholarship. It also takes seriously the documented sexism of a seemingly socially progressive and well-intentioned pragmatist philosopher, William James. . . . This method of rereading the canon serves as a model for feminists to generate complex and rich interpretive horizons that don't excuse the sexism of the philosopher as accidental to his philosophical theories, nor advocate a wholesale rejection of the philosopher's work as essentially sexist, but seek a middle interpretive ground that critically engages the philosopher's social prejudice while attempting to transform pragmatist thought toward meeting the goals of feminist projects.”
—Celia Bardwell-Jones Hypatia Reviews Online
“A welcome and lively contribution on William James, and adds significantly to the series’ wider reconstructive project. . . . James is here revealed warts-and-all, and that certainly is to the good of Jamesian scholarship, pragmatism, and feminist philosophy more generally.”
—Clara Fischer Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society
Table of ContentsContents
Preface
Nancy Tuana
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Erin C. Tarver and Shannon Sullivan
Part I: The Promise and Peril of James’s Philosophy for Feminism
1 The Feminine-Mystical Threat to Masculine-Scientific Order
Charlene Haddock Seigfried
2 “The Woman Question”: James’s Negotiations with Natural Law Theory and Utilitarianism
Jacob L. Goodson
3 Women and William James
Erin McKenna
4 Lady Pragmatism and the Great Man: The Need for Feminist Pragmatism
Erin C. Tarver
Part II: Pragmatist Ethics of Care
5 The Energies of Women: William James and the Ethics of Care
Susan Dieleman
6 William James and the Will to Care for Unfamiliar Others: The Masculinity of Care?
Maurice Hamington
Part III: Embodiment and Emotion
7 Habit, Relaxation, and the Open Mind: James and the Increments of Ethical Freedom
Megan Craig
8 James and Feminist Philosophy of Emotion
Shannon Sullivan
9 “A Perverse Kind of Pleasure”: James, the Body, and Women’s Mystical Experience
Jeremy Carrette
Part IV: Epistemic and Narrative Contestations
10 The Will Not to Believe: Pragmatism, Oppression, and Standpoint Theory
José Medina
11 Incredulity and Advocacy: Thinking After William James
Lorraine Code
Afterword
Charlene Haddock Seigfried
Index
