Is the Feminist Critique of Reason Rational

Recent criticism of feminist philosophy poses a dilemma. Feminism is taken to be a substantive set of empirical claims and political commitments, whereas philosophy is taken to be a discipline of thought organized by the pursuit of truth, but uncommitted to any particular truth. This paper responds to this dilemma, and defends the project of feminist philosophy

On Judging Epistemic Credibility: Is Social Identity Relevant?

On what basis should we make an epistemic assessment of another’s authority to impart knowledge? Is social identity a legitimate feature to take into account when assessing epistemic reliability? This paper argues that, in some cases, social identity is a relevant feature to take into account in assessing a person’s credibility

Uma epistemologia para a próxima revolução

Este artigo discute a necessidade de desenvolvimento de uma epistemologia decolonial revolucionária, identificando dois obstáculos para a formulação de uma nova epistemologia: um relacionado à própria epistemologia e outro às discussões sobre identidade. Argumenta-se pela necessidade de um debate propositivo e reconstrutivo sobre a verdade, bem como de uma discussão reconstrutiva sobre como e por quem o conhecimento é produzido. Por outro lado, defende-se que as concepções que asseveram que toda e qualquer reivindicação por identidade seja marcada por um excesso de essencialismo emergem também como obstáculo. Em seu lugar, propõem-se explicações mais fidedignas acerca da realidade que possam avaliar em que contexto os movimentos sociais baseados em identidades se tornam estreitos e conformistas e quando significam uma ampliação da participação política e da formação de coalizões

Feeling, Knowledge, Self-Preservation: Audre Lorde’s Oppositional Agency and Some Implications for Ethics

Throughout her work, Audre Lorde maintains that her self-preservation in the face of oppression depends on acting from the recognition and valorization of her feelings as a deep source of knowledge. This claim, taken as a portrayal of agency, poses challenges to standard positions in ethics, epistemology, and moral psychology. This article examines the oppositional agency articulated by Lorde’s thought, locating feeling, poetry, and the power she calls “the erotic” within her avowed project of self-preservation. It then explores the implications of taking seriously Lorde’s account, particularly for theorists examining ethics and epistemology under nonideal social conditions. For situations of sexual intimacy, for example, Lorde’s account unsettles prevailing assumptions about the role of consent in responsibility between sexual partners. I argue that obligations to solicit consent and respect refusal are not sufficient to acknowledge the value of agency in intimate encounters when agency is oppositional in the way Lorde describes

Motherhood, Moral Authority and the Charismatic Matriarch in the Aftermath of Lethal Violence

Images of maternal suffering are an evocative and powerful means of communication in a world where the private grief of victims has increasingly become subject to commodification and public consumption. This article looks at the influence of bereaved mothers as symbols of respect, peace and dignity in the aftermath of violence, and as a result their persuasive presence in family activism. Drawing upon two case studies, this article explores the importance of victims’ stories in public life and, in particular, the presence of the charismatic matriarch in creating communities of solidarity, raising awareness of harms that have previously gone unheard and prompting policy change. It considers the ‘canonical’ story of the mother in public life and concludes by arguing that more attention should be paid to victims’ stories and their influence on policy-making, politics and eventually in becoming public grievances

We Need a Feminism For The 99%. That’s Why Women Will Strike this Year

Artículo original publicado en inglés en The Guardian el 27 de enero de 2018 (disponible en https:// www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/27/we-need-a-feminism-for-the-99-thats-whywomen-will-strike-this-year). Ofrecemos la traducción ofrecida por el periódico Latfem (disponible en http://latfem.org/necesitamos-un-feminismo-para-el-99-por-eso-las-mujeres-haremos-huelgaeste-ano/

Epistemic Injustice in the space of reasons

In this paper, I make explicit some implicit commitments to realism and conceptualism in recent work in social epistemology exemplified by Miranda Fricker and Charles Mills. I offer a survey of recent writings at the intersection of social epistemology, feminism, and critical race theory, showing that commitments to realism and conceptualism are at once implied yet undertheorized in the existing literature. I go on to offer an explicit defense of these commitments by drawing from the epistemological framework of John McDowell, demonstrating the relevance of the metaphor of the “space of reasons” for theorizing and criticizing instances of epistemic injustice. I then point out how McDowell’s own view requires expansion and revision in light of Mills' concept of 'epistemologies of ignorance'. I conclude that, when their strengths are used to make up for each others' weaknesses, Mills and McDowell’s positions mutually reinforce one another, producing a powerful model for theorizing instances of systematic ignorance and false belief