Feminist Philosophy



Overview

Feminism is a political movement which aims to end the oppression of women. Feminist philosophy is concerned with theoretical investigations of central concepts and methodologies which are meant to support the pursuit of feminist agendas.

We will address key questions in feminist philosophy such as the following: What is to be a 'woman'? What is gender? How does gender interact with other features, such as race, class, and sexuality? To what extent is the lived experience of one’s own gendered body socially constructed and politically shaped? Do men and women have distinctive ways of acting and knowing? What is gender injustice, and how have feminists fought against it? 

Programme details

Course begins: 18 Jan 2024

Week 0: Course Orientation

Week 1: Feminism and Philosophy

Week 2: Sex and Gender

Week 3: Intersectionality: Sex/gender, Race, Class, etc.

Week 4: Feminist Phenomenology of Gender and Lived Experience

Week 5: Gendered Bodies

Week 6:  Knowledge and Objectivity

Week 7: Postmodernism and Feminism

Week 8: Epistemic Injustice

Week 9: Moral justification and autonomy

Week 10: Liberalism and feminism

Certification

Students who register for CATS points will receive a Record of CATS points on successful completion of their course assessment.

To earn credit (CATS points) you will need to register and pay an additional £10 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.

Coursework is an integral part of all weekly classes and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework in order to benefit fully from the course. Only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work at the required standard.

Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process can either register for CATS points prior to the start of their course or retrospectively from the January 1st after the current full academic year has been completed. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.

Fees

Description Costs
Course Fee £257.00
Take this course for CATS points £10.00

Funding

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:

Concessionary fees for short courses

Tutor

Dr Roxana Baiasu

Apart from being a Philosophy tutor of the Department for Continuing Education, Roxana is also an Associate Member of the Philosophy Faculty, Oxford University, Tutorial Fellow and Senior Lecturer at Stanford University in Oxford and Research Fellow at Birmingham University. Prior to this she was a lecturer at the Universities of Vienna and Leeds, and a Leverhulme Fellow at Sussex University. She is writing in the areas of Post-Kantian metaphysics and epistemology, feminist philosophy, philosophy of illness and mental health, and philosophy of religion. She edited (with G. Bird and A.W. Moore) Contemporary Kantian Metaphysics Today: New Essays on Time and Space (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), and published in, among others, The Southern Journal of Philosophy, IJPS, Research in Phenomenology and Sophia.

Course aims

  • To introduce students to core issues in feminism and philosophy.
  • To develop an understanding of some of the key debates in feminist philosophy.
  • To critically study certain contemporary texts often dealing with topical or controversial feminist topics.
  • To encourage students to think analytically about issues in feminist metaphysics, epistemology, moral and political philosophy.
  • To develop an awareness of how feminist analysis can contribute to our understanding of ourselves and the social world around us.

Teaching methods

Pre-recorded lectures and live, weekly interactive sessions. Students will be asked to read certain texts in preparation for each session.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this module students will be expected to have attained and demonstrated by performance in the live online sessions and submission of course work:

  • an understanding of some of the most important ideas and methodologies in feminist philosophy, and of core problems that are debated in the area;
  • an understanding of what makes feminist philosophy distinctive, and of what is at issue in debates in feminist metaphysics, epistemology, and moral and political philosophy;
  • the ability to articulate this understanding through clear, concise and critical arguments.

Assessment methods

Students submitting coursework can choose to submit either:

a three 500-word pieces during the course in response to questions on class material;

or

an essay of 1500 words at the end of the course (which may be preceded by an initial plan or other formative piece of 500 words for guidance).

Students must submit a completed Declaration of Authorship form at the end of term when submitting your final piece of work. CATS points cannot be awarded without the aforementioned form - Declaration of Authorship form

Application

We will close for enrolments 7 days prior to the start date to allow us to complete the course set up. We will email you at that time (7 days before the course begins) with further information and joining instructions. As always, students will want to check spam and junk folders during this period to ensure that these emails are received.

To earn credit (CATS points) for your course you will need to register and pay an additional £10 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.

Please use the 'Book' or 'Apply' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an enrolment form (Word) or enrolment form (Pdf).

Level and demands

No previous experience of philosophy is required to do this course, but some familiarity with philosophy might be an advantage.

Most of the Department's weekly classes have 10 or 20 CATS points assigned to them. 10 CATS points at FHEQ Level 4 usually consist of ten 2-hour sessions. 20 CATS points at FHEQ Level 4 usually consist of twenty 2-hour sessions. It is expected that, for every 2 hours of tuition you are given, you will engage in eight hours of private study.

Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS)

Terms & conditions for applicants and students

Information on financial support