Philosophy and Gender
Code: 100288 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Philosophy | OT | 3 |
| Philosophy | OT | 4 |
Contact
- Name:
- Begoņa Saez Tajafuerce
- Email:
- begonya.saez@uab.cat
Teachers
- Anabella Laura Di Tullio Arias
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
No prerequisites apply in order to enrole the course.
Objectives and Contextualisation
Philosophy and Gender is an elective course in the third and fourth year of the philosophy degree.
The course introduces contemporary debates on the relationship between philosophy and gender with the aim of critically analyzing how feminist theory and gender studies have transformed fundamental philosophical categories such as subject, reason, body, freedom, justice and power.
The course puts the philosophical tradition in dialogue with the contributions of contemporary feminist thought, including intersectional and decolonial approaches
Competences
- Philosophy
- Analysing and summarising the main arguments of fundamental texts of philosophy in its various disciplines.
- Recognising and interpreting topics and problems of philosophy in its various disciplines.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
- Thinking in a critical and independent manner on the basis of the specific topics, debates and problems of philosophy, both historically and conceptually.
Learning Outcomes
- Accurately drawing up normative texts.
- Analysing and summarising information.
- Applying philosophical rigour in a written text following the international quality standards.
- Communicating in the studied language in oral and written form, properly using vocabulary and grammar.
- Correctly, accurately and clearly communicating the acquired philosophical knowledge in oral and written form.
- Correctly drawing up a previously analysed non-regulatory text.
- Demonstrating a personal stance over a problem or controversy of philosophical nature, or a work of philosophical research.
- Developing self-learning strategies.
- Discriminating the features that define the writer's place in the context of a problem and reorganising them in a consistent diagram.
- Distinguishing and outlining the fundamental content of a philosophical text.
- Effectively communicating and applying the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
- Establishing relationships between science, philosophy, art, religion, politics, etc.
- Explaining aspects of the history of science by using the discipline's specific terminology.
- Leading working groups, overseeing collective tasks and working with commitment in order to bring together various positions.
- Producing an individual work that specifies the work plan and timing of activities.
- Recognising, with a critical eye, philosophical referents of the past and present and assessing its importance.
- Solving problems autonomously.
- Using computing tools, both basics (word processor or databases, for example) and specialised software needed in the professional practice of archaeology.
- Using suitable terminology when drawing up an academic text.
Content
Module 1: Introduction. Philosophy and gender: fields in dispute?
Foundations of feminist philosophy as a field of autonomous and critical thought. Tensions between reason, sexual difference and epistemological exclusion.
Readings:
- Alison Stone, An Introduction to Feminist Philosophy.
- Geneviève Fraisse, Musa de la razón
- Celia Amorós, Feminismo y filosofía
- Sara Ahmed, La política cultural de las emociones
Module 2: Feminist critique of the philosophical canon
The exclusion of women from the philosophical subject. Critical reading of foundational texts of the Western canon.
Readings:
- Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindicación de los derechos de la mujer (selección)
- Michèle Le Doeuff, El estudio y la rueca.
- Genevieve Lloyd, The Man of Reason
- Birulés, Fina, Entreactos (Las filósofas y la tradición)
Module 3: Body, difference and sexuality
Criticism of Cartesian dualism. Construction of the sexed body and gender norms.
Readings:
- Simone de Beauvoir, El segundo sexo (selección)
- Judith Butler, El género en disputa (cap. 1 y 3)
- Paul B. Preciado, Manifiesto contra-sexual
Module 4: Ethics of care and vulnerability
The critique of Kantian ethics and the autonomous moral subject. Relational proposals: care, interdependence, responsibility.
Readings:
- Joan Tronto, Moral Boundaries
- Eva Kittay, Love’s Labor
- Virginia Held, The Ethics of Care
Module 5: Freedom, power and subject: contemporary debates
Critique of liberal freedom as abstract self-determination: What does it mean to be free from a feminist perspective? Tensions between liberalism, structuralism and poststructural critique. Subject situated, embodied and in relation: vulnerable bodies, dependencies and material conditions.
Readings:
- Martha C. Nussbaum, “The Feminist Critique of Liberalism” en Sex and Social Justice (1999)
- Judith Butler, Cuerpos que importan (cap. 1)
- Iris Marion Young, Justice and the Politics of Difference (cap. “La idea de la justicia como inclusión”)
Module 6: Gender, coloniality and critical epistemologies
Intersectionality and non-hegemonic feminisms. Decolonial critiques of the enlightened subject and of abstract universality
Readings:
- María Lugones, “Colonialidad y género”
- bell hooks, Teoría feminista: de los márgenes al centro
- Rita Segato, La guerra contra las mujeres (cap. 4: Colonialidad y patriarcado moderno)
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Presentation of the course. Theoretical expositions of main concepts. Commentary of significant texts. Assessment of course topics and methodology. | 45 | 1.8 | 2, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutorials | 22.5 | 0.9 | 5, 1, 12, 11, 4, 19, 6 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Preparation of topics and texts (dossier). Preparation of presentation. Preparation of text commentary | 75 | 3 | 2, 8, 9, 10, 15, 12, 13, 11, 4, 16, 6, 17 |
At the classes, the teachers will introduce the topics and will give a brief introduction to the texts that will be commented on in common. It is recommended that the student will study in the textbooks. It is important to assist and participate in class.
The students are expected to elaborate a text commentary, according to a guideline, and to make a group exposition of the same text.
Campus Virtual will be in use. To contact the teachers, please make us of the visiting hours or, exceptionally, of the email. All tests will be deliverd on paper according to the deadlines. In case of telematic teaching, contact will be established either via e-mail or via Microsoft Teams.
Students are strongly encouraged to attend activities related to the course.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final exam 50% | Written exam | 4 | 0.16 | 2, 1, 8, 9, 10, 15, 12, 11, 4, 19, 14, 16, 6, 17, 18 |
| Preparation and participation in class 10% | Oral exam | 1 | 0.04 | 2, 8, 10, 13, 11, 4 |
| Text commentary 20% Presentation in class 20% | Oral exam | 2.5 | 0.1 | 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 15, 11, 4 |
The assessment of the course is continued and presupposes the attendance in class and the constant follow-up of the course. To pass the course, the final exam must be at least 5. If a student does not meet this condition, they must be submitted for reassessment. Everything about the student, however, may be submitted to the re-assessment to increase the exam grades. The date of the final exam will coincide with the last day of classes.
The comment and the presentation are not subject to re-evaluation in any case.
The student who has only carried out evaluation activities with a value of less than 30% will be assessed as non-evaluable.
There is no second call.
The teachers will assign a day, hour and place of review of examination once they have evaluated the activities of the course and have put the global mark of qualification. The students that have to do the re-evaluation will have a specific day of review once they have done the aforementioned re-evaluation activity.
Exam, text commentary and group presentation. The exam will consist of answering a question and elaborating a text commentary, according to the guidelines explained and worked in class and which is the basis of the group presentation.
Participation in class. Since the subject is formed as a seminar, the teacher will value the active participation in the class beyond the mandatory exposition. Prepare classes at home, expand content, make contributions, etc. These are activities that, apart from the value they have in the course evaluation, will help to round out the note.
SINGLE EVALUATION
Evidences: Exam (consisting of a question to be answered and a text commentary), Text commentary referring to oneof the texts included in the dossier, and Comparative Reading Exercise. All three evidences will be delivered on the same date.
Grade of evidences: Exam 50%, Text commentary 25% and Comparative Reading Exercise 25%.
In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that studentsare able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity,
regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
In this course the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is allowed exclusively in tasks of bibliographic or information search, proofreading or translations. The parts that have been generated with AI must be identified; specify the tools used; and include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and the final result of the activity. The non-transparency of the use of AI in this evaluable activity will be considered academic dishonesty and will result in the activity being evaluated with a 0 and not being recoverable, or higher penalties in serious cases.
In this course the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is allowed exclusively in tasks of bibliographic or information search, proofreading or translations. The parts that have been generated with AI must be identified; specify the tools used; and include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and the final result of the activity. The non-transparency of the use of AI in this evaluable activity will be considered academic dishonesty and will result in the activity being evaluated with a 0 and not being recoverable, or higher penalties in serious cases.
It is possible that the Department of Philosophy will establish (as will be done during the first semester) a period dedicated to evaluative tests. The teaching staff will indicate whether such a period exists or what the test dates are at the beginning of each course.
Bibliography
Ahmed, S. (2015). La política cultural de las emociones. UNAM.
Amorós, C. (2000). Feminismo y filosofía. Síntesis.
Beauvoir, S. de (2005). El segundo sexo (selección). Ediciones Cátedra.
Birulés, F. (2015). Entreactos. En torno a la política, el feminismo y el pensamiento. Katz.
Butler, J. (2002). El género en disputa (caps. 1 y 3). Paidós.
Butler, J. (2014). Cuerpos que importan (cap. 1). Paidós.
Fraisse, G. (1991). Musa de la razón: La democracia excluyente y la diferencia de los sexos. Cátedra.
Held, V. (2006). The ethics of care: Personal, political, and global. Oxford University Press.
hooks, b. (2020). Teoría feminista: De los márgenes al centro. Traficantes de Sueños.
Kittay, E. F. (1999). Love’s labor: Essays on women, equality and dependency. Routledge.
Le Doeuff, M. (1999). El estudio y la rueca. De las mujeres, de la filosofía, etc. Ediciones Cátedra.
Lloyd, G. (1984). The man of reason: "Male" and "female" in Western philosophy. Routledge.
Lugones, M. (2008). Colonialidad y género. Tabula Rasa, 9, 73–101.
Nussbaum, M. C. (1999). The feminist critique of liberalism. En Sex and social justice (pp. 55–80). Oxford University Press.
Preciado, P. B. (2002). Manifiesto contra-sexual. Opera Prima.
Segato, R. L. (2016). Colonialidad y patriarcado moderno. En La guerra contra las mujeres (cap. 4, pp. 105–121). Traficantes de Sueños.
Stone, A. (2007). An introduction to feminist philosophy. Polity Press.
Tronto, J. C. (1993). Moral boundaries: A political argument for an ethic of care. Routledge.
Wollstonecraft, M. (2000). Vindicación de los derechos de la mujer (selección). Ediciones Cátedra.
Young, I. M. (2000). La justicia y la política de la diferencia, Cátedra.
Software
No specific sofware is needed.
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | Spanish | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Spanish | second semester | morning-mixed |