10/2/2003
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Hilde L. Nelson, associate professor of philosophy at Michigan State University, has been named editor of Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy.
The quarterly journal, founded in 1986, publishes essays, symposia and book reviews whose central category of philosophical analysis is the social pattern - widespread across cultures and history - that distributes power asymmetrically in a way that favors men over women. This asymmetry has been given many names, including the subjugation of women, sexism, male dominance, patriarchy, systemic misogyny and phallocracy. A number of feminist theorists simply call it gender, and it is the starting point for all feminist philosophy, according to Nelson, who has an expansive vision of the journal's future.
"The central aim of Hypatia - to extend and develop feminist philosophy - will remain what it has always been," she said. "In addition, however, I have three other goals. The first is to devote the journal even more fully to critical and constructive engagements among feminist philosophers - to encourage them to take note of each others' work and to build on each others' ideas.
"The second is to secure for feminist philosophy more notice and more influence in the larger world of feminist theory - to reach out to feminist theorists in literature departments, for example, or in cultural studies, law or history.
"The third is to expand the journal's readership and influence within philosophy - to receive recognition and engagement from nonfeminist philosophers, who on the whole have not entered into the feminist discourse in their own discipline."
The breadth and depth of scholarly resources within the Department of Philosophy make it a logical home for the journal.
"MSU is fortunate to have four feminist philosophers among its faculty," Nelson said. "Marilyn Frye, a University Distinguished Professor, has an international reputation in feminist and lesbian philosophy. Judith Andre has long specialized in feminist bioethics. Lisa Schwartzman specializes in feminist social and political theory, and my own areas of specialization are feminist ethics and bioethics."
Frye and Schwartzman serve as Hypatia's local advisory board and Andre serves as an unofficial adviser.
Nelson brings extensive editorial experience to the journal. Before she became a philosopher she worked for 10 years as a freelance copyeditor, editing nearly 60 scholarly books for a number of university presses. After that, she was a full-time editor at the leading journal in bioethics, The Hastings Center Report, for five years.
She has published almost 50 articles on bioethics and feminist ethics and is the co-author, with James Lindemann Nelson, of "The Patient in the Family" and "Alzheimer's: Answers to Hard Questions for Families." Her most recent book is "Damaged Identities, Narrative Repair." She co-edited the Reflective Bioethics Series for Routledge and currently co-edits the Feminist Constructions Series for Rowman and Littlefield.
Nelson credits Provost Lou Anna K. Simon, Dean Wendy Wilkins of the College of Arts and Letters, and philosophy chairperson Steve Esquith with providing essential financial and resource support for the journal's move to East Lansing.
Hypatia, which is published by Indiana University Press, has a rotating editorship. MSU will house it for five years, from 2003 to 2008. The university provides the journal's office, a course reduction every semester for Nelson and a budget for office supplies, computers, a printer and telephone.
The journal's royalties provide support for a graduate assistant and a stipend for an editorial assistant. The journal is named for Hypatia, an Egyptian woman philosopher, mathematician and astronomer who lived in Alexandria from her birth in about 370 A.D. until her death in 415. She was the leader of the Neoplatonic School in Alexandria and was famous as an eloquent and inspiring teacher.
Questions asked by feminist philosophers
The scope of issues being addressed by feminist philosophers is vast. Here's a sampling:
- How does sexism combine with imperialism to affect the lives of Native American women? To answer this question, feminist philosophers explore the impact of environmental policies on the resources that sustain traditional ways of life, the violence committed against native women in the name of assimilation into the dominant culture and the erosion of traditional understandings of how people relate to all things in the universe.
- What can feminist philosophy contribute to our understanding of evil? Many forms of evil are gender-specific: female genital mutilation, rape in war, random attacks against women and the Taliban's violent oppression of women in Afghanistan. Many responses to evil are also gender-specific, authorizing masculinized and commercialized reactions to suffering.
- How does gender figure into the problem of "debt" owed by developing nations to wealthy nations? The "free trade" movement has increased enormously the gap between rich and poor countries, and this has had an especially devastating effect on the livelihoods of many women in developing nations. In Africa, many women's traditional industries such as food processing and basket making are being wiped out, forcing women to work for multinational corporations at low wages and in poor working conditions.
- What is the role of gender and trust in scientific knowledge? Lorraine Code has argued that the sex of the knower makes a difference, because women have not had the social standing that is necessary for their knowledge to be perceived as authoritative. It can be argued that the credibility of a scientific claim does not reliably reflect its trustworthiness, because sexism and racism often influence who or what people trust.
- Is multiculturalism bad for women? The question arises because it is important to know whether respect for cultures other than one's own requires us to assent to practices in those cultures that harm women. It is very easy for members of dominant cultures to find the practices of subordinate ones to be "barbaric," and that is a way of oppressing the subordinate culture. But some practices, such as female genital mutilation or making it illegal for women to own property, are also oppressive. How should we think about this dilemma?