Rabbi Michael Kagan
Dept. of Philosophy
Le Moyne College
Syracuse, NY  13214-1399

• Feminist defined as sets of beliefs accepting the thesis that womenare full persons, with the rights and obligations of persons. Differentfeminisms develop implications of such beliefs on the basis of other thesesaccepted, and some critical theory.
• Short explanation here about how certain questions aren't asked, thenare asked . . . based on Whitehead's discussion of slavery in Adventuresof Ideas.
• A critical theory explained as a system of analysis of ideas whichlooks for their causes and does not settle for the reasons stated by theiradherents.
• Examples of critical theories from our course material include thework of de Beauvoir, Marx, and Freud. Example from PHL 101 would be Xenophanes'work or Thrasymachus in Plato's Republic.
• Feminist philosophers do critical theories, conceptual analyses, phenomenologicalanalyses, and other investigations (e.g., anthropology, philosophy of science,linguistics) depending on their preferred philosophical method(s), interestsand goals. Describe some of the variety.
• Most feminist critical theories would either assume familiarity with,introduce, or consider the concept of "woman" and its relationshipto issues of gender.
• Discuss the standard sex/gender distinction.
• Discuss issue of gendered reading
• Compare with other locations as reader (cultural, ethnic, religious,etc.)
• E.g., reading as a woman, as a man, as one aware of exclusions, andthe pragmatic and coherence issues that arise from such reading.
• Introduce the concept of "the other."

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