To the Editor:
It was wonderful to see an article on the underrepresentation of women in philosophy in your Diversity in Academe supplement (“Wanted: Female Philosophers in the Classroom and in the Canon,” The Chronicle, October 11). However, the steps outlined for the “cure” seem a little oversimplistic.
Unfortunately, sexism in the canon is not restricted to problematic passages and comments that can be found in the texts of Kant, Rousseau, and Aristotle (among others). If this were the case, I would agree that we could merely treat these passages and comments critically in order to render them innocuous. Instead, as some feminist philosophers have argued, the sexism of Rousseau, Kant, and Aristotle actually provides some of the theoretical underpinning of their philosophy itself. The problem of sexism in the canon runs too deep to be exorcized by simply recognizing it in a critical manner.
Introducing women philosophers into the canon is obviously of vital importance, but we must be careful how it is done. Mary Ellen Waithe has warned us that we cannot simply add women and stir. We must acknowledge the reasons why women have been left out in the first place. Unfortunately, in certain cases the work of women philosophers does not fit well into mainstream definitions of what philosophy is. The dominant picture of philosophy is an objective search to answer universal timeless questions or to find universal timeless truths, which are typically expressed in a treatise or scholarly article. However, the work of some women philosophers can often be of a more personal nature, sometimes written in a literary form, and focused on specific questions that pertain to women or to women at a particular historical and cultural era. Thus, adding women to the canon is no easy task.
Catherine Villanueva Gardner
Associate Professor
Philosophy & Women’s Studies
University of Massachusetts
North Dartmouth, Mass.
All I can say to Marybeth Gasman’s eye-opening article (“Minority-Serving Colleges Deserve More Respect”) is amen! I was thrilled that Ms. Gasman named my institution, Prairie View A&M University. When I tell others that I am pursuing a Ph.D., I am bombarded with high praises concerning my aspirations. When I inform these well-wishers that my university of choice is Prairie View A&M University, a historically black institution, those looks of astonishment turn to faces of confusion.
I am a second-year doctoral student in Prairie View’s Ph.D. program in educational leadership. I have the opportunity to study under the wings of a dedicated, knowledgeable, encouraging, experienced, and committed faculty members teaching in the doctoral program. After receiving my bachelor’s degree from a mainstream university, I lacked the confidence and especially the encouragement to set higher educational goals for myself. It was not until I decided to pursue a doctorate at Prairie View that I found the support I needed to be successful.
My professors have taken a personal interest in my education by doing all that it takes to ensure that I am successful in obtaining my degree. They also advise me to make smart decisions that will ensure my success after graduation. The love, care, support, and academic challenges found at this historically black institution are what make me believe that changing the world one student at a time is a true possibility.
Queinnise Miller
Teacher
Alief Independent School District
Houston
Ph.D. Student in Educational Leadership
Prairie View A&M University
Prairie View, Tex.