The history of philosophy through a feminist magnifying glass: Distortion or clarification

The aim of this dissertation is to contribute to the evaluation of the feminist approach to the history of philosophy. Feminist philosophers have attempted to reread and reinterpret texts of the philosophical canon in order to uncover the gender biases they believe are inherent in these philosophical works. They have introduced a new critical reading strategy that utilizes the concepts of “gender” and “situatedness” as analytical tools. The feminist interpretive strategy focuses mainly on examining ways in which philosophers' gender-based assumptions about women affect their theories.; I assess the effectiveness of the feminist interpretive strategy through a case study approach. I present a selective survey of feminist critiques of four central philosophical figures, namely, Plato, Descartes, Mill, and de Beauvoir. My method of analyzing the feminist critique of the philosophical canon is based on a close reading of the canonical texts themselves. Although I value the importance of studying the history of philosophy in terms of its relevance to contemporary issues, I believe it is necessary that a philosopher's argument be captured as accurately as possible before its connection to issues of contemporary interests can be successfully examined. In each chapter, I identify the philosophical issues that feminists consider problematic, I offer my interpretation through a close reading of the philosophical texts, and conclude each case with an evaluation of the feminist interpretation of the history of philosophy.; I have found substantive errors of textual interpretation in all four cases I examined. I attribute these errors to misuses of the feminist interpretive strategy that centers on the concepts of “gender” and “situatedness”. I argue that the feminist analytical tools are misused when they serve to manipulate isolated philosophical arguments to strengthen claims of the feminist interpreters. Such errors undermine the interpretive values of the feminist history of philosophy. Also, they overshadow the contribution of the feminist approach in helping us understand the connection between past philosophical ideas and issues that are important to contemporary feminist thoughts.