Anita Superson

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Anita Superson
Institutions University of Kentucky, University of Waterloo, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Kansas State University, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Main interests
 Meta-ethics, moral skepticism, practical reason, normative ethics, applied ethics, moral psychology, feminism

Anita Superson is a professor of philosophy at the University of Kentucky. [1] She was also the visiting Churchill Humphrey and Alex P. Humphrey Professor of Feminist Philosophy at the University of Waterloo during the winter term of 2013. [1]

Contents

Education and career

Superson received a bachelor's in biology from DePaul University in 1981 and went on to receive a master's in philosophy (with a concentration in medical ethics) from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1985 and a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1989. [1]

Superson is currently a professor of philosophy at the University of Kentucky, where she has held an appointment since 1992. [1] She is an affiliated faculty member of the Gender and Women's Studies Department at the University of Kentucky. [1] She also holds the visiting Churchill Humphrey and Alex P. Humphrey Professorship in Feminist Philosophy at the University of Waterloo for the winter of 2013. [1] She also held a visiting professorship at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2008. Before her current appointments, she held an assistant professorship at Kansas State University, and also taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. [1]

Research areas

Superson's research brings the tools of analytic philosophy to bear on the issues presented by feminism, especially those issues that lie at feminism's intersection with ethics. [2] She is especially interested in issues of moral skepticism, moral authority or bindingness, internalism/externalism, responsibility, agency, deformed desires, social privilege, evil and immorality, and bodily autonomy. [2] Her recent anthology attempts to document the impact that analytical feminism has made on mainstream philosophy in recent years. [2]

Publications

Superson has written one book - The Moral Skeptic, published in 2009. [1] She has also co-edited two anthologies; Out from the Shadows: Analytical Feminist Contributions to Traditional Philosophy [3] and Theorizing Backlash: Philosophical Reflections on the Resistance to Feminism, [4] and published a number of peer-reviewed papers. [1] Superson has also been on the editorial board of Teaching Philosophy since 2006 and is the subject co-editor for entries related to feminism in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. [1]

The Moral Skeptic

The Moral Skeptic is a treatment of the idea of moral skepticism from a feminist standpoint. [5] In it, although Superson recognizes that there are problems inherent to the concept of justification, Superson still pursues the idea, believing it too central a part of philosophy to discard and that despite its problems, demonstrating that it is rational to be moral may have the effect of making people actually behave in a moral way. [5] Superson believes that it is not possible to support morality by arguing the desirability of performing on an individual basis moral actions without taking in to account what motivates someone to perform those actions, and believes that the rationality of actions and the rationality of the motivation of those actions must be assessed in tandem. [6]

Superson critiques the common presentation of the traditional moral skeptic as a theoretical actor who asks "Why should I act in a moral way?". [7] Superson believes that this model overlooks two important facts: first, that people often benefit from privilege in a way that cannot be captured by such a model, and second, that the theoretical moral skeptic's own preferences might be deformed by their own oppressive experiences (and thus fulfilling them may not actually maximize their own self-interest.) [5] Superson suggests that defeating the moral skeptic requires proving that the act of privileging oneself over others is irrational. [5]

Superson aims to convince the reader that oppression is not only immoral but irrational, and believes that doing so may stop people from acting in oppressive ways. [5] [6] This thesis has been criticized by other feminist ethicists who believe that it is not sufficiently connected to the real world because it ignores the fact that people frequently behave in irrational ways and often continue behaving in such ways even if they realize their irrationality. [5] [6]

Related Research Articles

Skepticism, also spelled scepticism in British English, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the person doubts that these claims are accurate. In such cases, skeptics normally recommend not disbelief but suspension of belief, i.e. maintaining a neutral attitude that neither affirms nor denies the claim. This attitude is often motivated by the impression that the available evidence is insufficient to support the claim. Formally, skepticism is a topic of interest in philosophy, particularly epistemology.

Philosophical skepticism is a family of philosophical views that question the possibility of knowledge. It differs from other forms of skepticism in that it even rejects very plausible knowledge claims that belong to basic common sense. Philosophical skeptics are often classified into two general categories: Those who deny all possibility of knowledge, and those who advocate for the suspension of judgment due to the inadequacy of evidence. This distinction is modeled after the differences between the Academic skeptics and the Pyrrhonian skeptics in ancient Greek philosophy. In the latter sense, skepticism is understood as a way of life that helps the practitioner achieve inner peace. Some types of philosophical skepticism reject all forms of knowledge while others limit this rejection to certain fields, for example, knowledge about moral doctrines or about the external world. Some theorists criticize philosophical skepticism based on the claim that it is a self-refuting idea since its proponents seem to claim to know that there is no knowledge. Other objections focus on its implausibility and distance from regular life.

Moral skepticism is a class of meta-ethical theories all members of which entail that no one has any moral knowledge. Many moral skeptics also make the stronger, modal claim that moral knowledge is impossible. Moral skepticism is particularly opposed to moral realism: the view that there are knowable and objective moral truths.

Equality feminism is a subset of the overall feminism movement and more specifically of the liberal feminist tradition that focuses on the basic similarities between men and women, and whose ultimate goal is the equality of both genders in all domains. This includes economic and political equality, equal access within the workplace, freedom from oppressive gender stereotyping, and an androgynous worldview.

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Religious skepticism is a type of skepticism relating to religion. Religious skeptics question religious authority and are not necessarily anti-religious but rather are skeptical of either specific or all religious beliefs and/or practices. Socrates was one of the most prominent and first religious skeptics of whom there are records; he questioned the legitimacy of the beliefs of his time in the existence of the Greek gods. Religious skepticism is not the same as atheism or agnosticism, and some religious skeptics are deists.

Marilyn Frye is an American philosopher and radical feminist theorist. She is known for her theories on sexism, racism, oppression, and sexuality. Her writings offer discussions of feminist topics, such as: white supremacy, male privilege, and gay and lesbian marginalization. Although she approaches the issues from the perspective of justice, she is also engaged with the metaphysics, epistemology, and moral psychology of social categories.

Feminist philosophy is an approach to philosophy from a feminist perspective and also the employment of philosophical methods to feminist topics and questions. Feminist philosophy involves both reinterpreting philosophical texts and methods in order to supplement the feminist movement and attempts to criticise or re-evaluate the ideas of traditional philosophy from within a feminist framework.

Feminist epistemology is an examination of epistemology from a feminist standpoint.

Analytical feminism is a line of philosophy that applies analytic concepts and methods to feminist issues and applies feminist concepts and insights to issues that have traditionally been of interest to analytic philosophers. Like all feminists, analytical feminists insist on recognizing and contesting sexism and androcentrism.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Superson, Anita. "Curriculum Vitae". University of Kentucky. Archived from the original on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 "Anita Superson | Philosophy". University of Kentucky. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  3. ↑ Superson, Anita M.; Crasnow, Sharon L. (2012). Out from the shadows: analytical feminist contributions to traditional philosophy . New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780199855476.
  4. ↑ Superson, Anita M.; Cudd, Ann E. (2002). Theorizing backlash : philosophical reflections on the resistance to feminism. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   9780742513747.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tessman, Lisa (2011). "The Moral Skeptic. By ANITA SUPERSON". Hypatia. 26 (4): 883–887. doi:10.1111/j.1527-2001.2010.01156.x. ISSN   0887-5367. S2CID   144999805.
  6. 1 2 3 Bloomfield, P. (2011). "The Moral Skeptic, by Anita M. Superson". Mind. 120 (479): 914–917. doi:10.1093/mind/fzr059. ISSN   0026-4423.
  7. ↑ Suikkanen, Jussi. "Anita M. Superson, The Moral Skeptic, Oxford UP, 2009 (review)". Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews.
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