![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Stone Cold Emmanuel Kant
Jul. 8th, 2006 02:39 pmOnce again I sit here knee-deep in thesis thoughts and I wish I had someone who was not an authority figure, who'd not judge my lack of philosophical knowledge, but could tell me if I was on the right track or if this was valid before I spent any more time on it. Hmmm.
Brainstorming: I want to change my thesis topic. Mind you, not entirely, still on ethics of care, but something ELSE regarding them. I am not well-read enough to do this probably, nor do I know how much I'd have to read to make this a possibility, but I am getting an idea.
More and more lately I talk to men frustrated with us women. They say we're too complicated, too emotional, we never say what we want straight up. Often they complain we're manipulative or that we lie. Now...of course this bothers me. I am a feminist, I am very pro-woman, I think we're amazing. I also think we're very misunderstood most of the time. One of the most influential philosophers, Emmanuel Kant (who was an uptight German prick if you ask me, but moving on...) was as male as male can be as far as not being sympathetic and whatever. He's known for being cold and unfeeling generally, but still...he's very well respected. Actually, funny story, one of my classmates last year referred to him as "Stone Cold Emmanuel Kant"...eh, anyway. So this dude has many many ethical theories and one of the big ones is that he was very anti-lying, anti-lying in all forms, there should be no lying...ever. He thought this would solve the worlds ethical dilemmas. How very male of him!
So I am working with Carol Gilligan (queen mum of care ethics, they are her baby) and her notion of "a different voice" for women. I love this idea. Women GET other women, and men complain we're too complicated and should say what we mean, when we can say the same thing to another woman and they get it all too clearly. So yeah, how do care ethics fit in with Kant's policy on lying and deception? Women use ethics of care in order to protect relationships and emotional welfare of themselves and the ones they care about...therefore they may be more prone to lying, not being forthcoming with information that may hurt others, etc. Does this make them manipulative liars? You know we'd be insulted to be called that, since most try so hard to be caring.
Is this not a different voice? It seems to me this is very much an issue of what the dominant influences in our society are telling us is "normal" and therefore, despite the fact that women are doing something THEY think is right, by protecting those they care about, many men have a very different perspective on what is ethically right and therefore we are seen as less moral instead of differently moral. How do these two moral voices work together? Can they?
Brainstorming: I want to change my thesis topic. Mind you, not entirely, still on ethics of care, but something ELSE regarding them. I am not well-read enough to do this probably, nor do I know how much I'd have to read to make this a possibility, but I am getting an idea.
More and more lately I talk to men frustrated with us women. They say we're too complicated, too emotional, we never say what we want straight up. Often they complain we're manipulative or that we lie. Now...of course this bothers me. I am a feminist, I am very pro-woman, I think we're amazing. I also think we're very misunderstood most of the time. One of the most influential philosophers, Emmanuel Kant (who was an uptight German prick if you ask me, but moving on...) was as male as male can be as far as not being sympathetic and whatever. He's known for being cold and unfeeling generally, but still...he's very well respected. Actually, funny story, one of my classmates last year referred to him as "Stone Cold Emmanuel Kant"...eh, anyway. So this dude has many many ethical theories and one of the big ones is that he was very anti-lying, anti-lying in all forms, there should be no lying...ever. He thought this would solve the worlds ethical dilemmas. How very male of him!
So I am working with Carol Gilligan (queen mum of care ethics, they are her baby) and her notion of "a different voice" for women. I love this idea. Women GET other women, and men complain we're too complicated and should say what we mean, when we can say the same thing to another woman and they get it all too clearly. So yeah, how do care ethics fit in with Kant's policy on lying and deception? Women use ethics of care in order to protect relationships and emotional welfare of themselves and the ones they care about...therefore they may be more prone to lying, not being forthcoming with information that may hurt others, etc. Does this make them manipulative liars? You know we'd be insulted to be called that, since most try so hard to be caring.
Is this not a different voice? It seems to me this is very much an issue of what the dominant influences in our society are telling us is "normal" and therefore, despite the fact that women are doing something THEY think is right, by protecting those they care about, many men have a very different perspective on what is ethically right and therefore we are seen as less moral instead of differently moral. How do these two moral voices work together? Can they?
