Can there be a feminist logic? By most accounts the answer would be no. What l find remarkable is the great difference in the justifications provided for this conclusion. The impossibility of feminist logic is defended, on the one hand, on the grounds that logic itself is most fundamentally a form of domination and so is inimical to feminist aims. Other philosophers, while also defending the impossibility of feminist logic, do so from the conviction that it is feminist theory rather than logic that is the problem. For these thinkers, feminism cannot make any interesting or important contribution to logic because feminist theory is fundamentally shallow or misguided. In this paper I will argue that both positions are mistaken: Logic is neither as totalizing as the one side believes nor is feminist theory as inconsequential for logic as the other pole would have it. In the course of these arguments, I describe the work of several feminist logicians, showing the possibility and value of feminist approaches to logic.
Hass, Marjorie. Can There Be a Feminist Logic?
1999, In Emanuela Bianchi (ed.), Is Feminist Philosophy Philosophy? Northwestern University Press. pp. 190--201
Added by: Franci Mangraviti
Abstract:
Comment: Very quick and accessible introduction to the idea of feminist logic. Similar in intention to Russell's 2020 "Logic: A Feminist Approach", but more varied in its examples and more focused on answering arguments against the possibility of feminist logic, rather than assessing particular attempts. Familiarity with feminist philosophy of science helps for context, but is strictly speaking not necessary. The text could be assigned in an intro to logic course; it can also be discussed specifically as a response to Andrea Nye's "Words of Power".