Feminist Ethics

As ethicists, we ask how to act rightly, develop moral understanding, respect others, cultivate virtues, and live flourishing lives. In this class, we ask these ethical questions from a feminist perspective, taking into account how gender-based oppression threatens our ability to act, understand, and live well. We examine feminist criticisms of the very concepts - contracts, rights, justice - through which central ethical questions have traditionally been asked. And we explore alternative moral frameworks, including care- and dependency-based reasoning, lesbian separatism, and the cultivation of resistant moral emotions.