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Diversity Reading List

Expanding the who, the what, and the how of philosophy

The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu

Posted on January 24, 2024May 13, 2025 by Simon Fokt

This is one of the standard and often-cited translations of the full text of the Zhuangzi

Tagged Chinese philosophy; Daoism; classicsLeave a comment

Chuang Tzu: The Inner Chapters, translated, with Commentary, by A. C. Graham

Posted on January 24, 2024May 13, 2025 by Simon Fokt

A reliable translation and commentary of the core chapters of the Zhuangzi by a leading scholar.

Tagged Chinese philosophy; Daoism; classicsLeave a comment

Zhuangzi: The Complete Writings, translated and with introduction and notes by Brook Ziporyn

Posted on January 24, 2024May 13, 2025 by Simon Fokt

Brook Ziporyn’s carefully crafted, richly annotated translation of the complete writings of Zhuangzi—including a lucid Introduction, a Glossary of Essential Terms, and a Bibliography—provides readers with an engaging and provocative deep dive into this magical work.

Tagged Chinese philosophy; Daoism; classicsLeave a comment

Tao Te Ching (Laozi/ Daodejing); trans. DC Lau

Posted on January 24, 2024May 13, 2025 by Simon Fokt

The Laozi is a key text in Daoism/Taosim (a school in Classical Chinese Philosophy), and is also the single most frequently translated Chinese classic. This is a bilingual edition of a standard translation.

Tagged Chinese philosophy; Daoism; classicsLeave a comment

Is the Feminist Critique of Reason Rational?

Posted on December 10, 2023May 13, 2025 by Simon Fokt

Recent criticism of feminist philosophy poses a dilemma. Feminism is taken to be a substantive set of empirical claims and political commitments, whereas philosophy is taken to be a discipline of thought organized by the pursuit of truth, but uncommitted to any particular truth. This paper responds to this dilemma, and defends the project of feminist philosophy.The first task toward understanding the feminist critique of reason, Alcoff argues, is to historically situate it within the rather long tradition of critiquing reason that has existed within the mainstream of philosophy itself.

Tagged feminism, reasonLeave a comment

Is the Subject of Science Sexed?

Posted on December 10, 2023May 13, 2025 by Simon Fokt

The premise of this paper is that the language of science, like language in general, is neither asexual nor neutral. The essay demonstrates the various ways in which the non-neutrality of the subject of science is expressed and proposes that there is a need to analyze the laws that determine the acceptability of language and discourse in order to interpret their connection to a sexed logic.

Tagged gender, language, science, subjectLeave a comment

Circles of Reason: Some Feminist Reflections on Reason and Rationality

Posted on December 10, 2023February 9, 2026 by Simon Fokt

Rationality and reason are topics so fraught for feminists that any useful reflection on them requires some prior exploration of the difficulties they have caused. One of those difficulties for feminists and, I suspect, for others in the margins of modernity, is the rhetoric of reason – the ways reason is bandied about as a qualification differentially bestowed on different types of person. Rhetorically, it functions in different ways depending on whether it is being denied or affirmed. In this paper, I want to explore these rhetorics of reason as they are considered in the work of two feminist philosophers. I shall draw on their work for some suggestions about how to think about rationality, and begin to use those suggestions to develop a constructive account that withstands the rhetorical temptations.

Tagged epistemology, feminism, Foucault, Fricker, Hume, reasonLeave a comment

Distance, Relationship, and Moral Obligation

Posted on November 21, 2023May 13, 2025 by Deryn Mair Thomas

How can we justify partiality to those near to us, such as our own families, friends, neighbours and colleagues, when we could act in much more morally valuable ways by helping others who are merely distant from us? In 1972 Peter Singer used two now-famous examples, Pond and Overseas, to challenge our complacent partiality. The charge of neglect of an obvious moral duty to meet distant grave needs is refined and developed by Peter Unger(1996).

Although Singer is a consequentialist, he intends the problem of distance to challenge all moral thinkers irrespective of their theoretical commitments. Singer’s challenge has somehow to be met, and this is what discussions of the problem of distance in contemporary analytic philosophy attempt to do. To solve the problem, we have to reject
or modify impartialism or partialism.

Tagged ethical theory, impartialism, moral obligation, partialism, Peter Singer, relationshipsLeave a comment

The Role of Solitude in the Politics of Sociability

Posted on November 20, 2023May 13, 2025 by Deryn Mair Thomas

This chapter explores a so-far neglected way of avoiding the bads of loneliness: by learning to value solitude, where that is understood as a state of ‘keeping oneself company’, as J. David Velleman puts it. Unlike loneliness, solitude need not involve any deprivation, whether subjective or objective. This chapter considers the various goods to which solitude is constitutive or instrumental, with a focus on the promise that proper valuing of solitude holds for combating loneliness. The overall argument is this: If loneliness significantly detracts from individual wellbeing, and if the ability to value solitude protects against loneliness, then such an ability is obviously valuable to human flourishing. If, further, loneliness raises concerns of justice, then supporting people’s ability to value solitude is a way to implement a desideratum of justice. Individuals can cultivate their ability to value solitude, an ability that others can promote or hinder.

Tagged childrearing, justice, loneliness, sociabilityLeave a comment

What If We Change Our Axioms? A Feminist Inquiry into the Foundations of Mathematics

Posted on October 28, 2023February 9, 2026 by Simon Fokt

From the Introduction: “Modern mathematics is based on the axiomatic method. We choose axioms and a deductive system—rules for deducing theorems from the axioms. This methodology is designed to guarantee that we can proceed from “obviously” true premises to true conclusions, via inferences which are “obviously” truth-preserving. […] New and interesting questions arise if we give up as myth the claim that our theorizing can ever be separated out from the complex dynamic of interwoven social/political/historical/cultural forces that shape our experiences and views. Considering mathematics as a set of stories produced according to strict rules one can read these stories for what they tell us about the very real human desires, ambitions, and values of the authors (who understands) and listen to the authors as spokespersons for their cultures (where and when). This paper is the self-respective and self-conscious attempt of a mathematician to retell a story of mathematics that attends to the relationships between who we are and what we know.”

Tagged axiomatic method, foundations, proofLeave a comment

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