APA Committees

Feminist Perspectives on Care, Justice and Dependency

COURSE DESCRIPTION and Syllabus
Feminist Perspectives on Care, Justice and Dependency
Professor Eva Feder Kittay

Home phones: 212-333-4670 weekdays (Tuesday-Thursday); 845-583-8050 (Friday-Monday). At Stony Brook 631-632-7589.

Office hours: 5:30-7:00 and by appointment (Please call beforehand if possible). Meet me in the Faculty Office.

Phi 500/60 3 credits Tuesday 7-10

Feminist ethical and political theory has pointed to limitations in traditional conceptions of justice. These include the omission of both the perspective and situation of caregivers and those who are dependent on their care. We will consider literature in which the criticisms have been voiced, as well as those that attempt to give a richer understanding of justice in light of the inevitable dependencies and interdependencies that shape our lives. Literature will be drawn from traditional political theory, (Rawls, Sen, MacIntyre, among others) feminist theory (Young, Fraser, Tronto among others), philosophical writing on disability (e.g., Frances and Silvers, Americans with Disabilities) and biomedical ethics.

Readings:
(All books are available at the 18th Street Barnes and Noble - they are also available on-line at www.bn.com)
Justice and Care, edited by Virginia Held (J&C)
Americans with Disabilities, Leslie Francis Pickering and Anita Silvers (AwD)
The Subject of Care, Eva Feder Kittay and Ellen K. Feder (SoC)

Additional useful books include:
Kant, Groundwork to a Metaphysics of Morals
Alisdair MacIntyre, Dependent Rational Animals
Kittay, Love's Labor

Requirements:
The class will be conducted as a seminar. Students will be expected to do a 10-15 minute presentation on class material for at least one class session. I will also ask everyone to write email distributed 1-2 page commentaries every other session. The final paper will be one10-15 page paper, usually based on the class presentation. Students must make appointments to meet with me concerning the final paper AT LEAST TWICE.

Americans with Disabilities Act
If you have a physical, psychological, medical or learning disability that may impact your course work, please contact Disability Support Services, ECC (Educational Communications Center) Building, room 128, (631) 632-6748. They will determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation is confidential.

Students requiring emergency evacuation are encouraged to discuss their needs with their professors and Disability Support Services. For procedures and information, go to the following web site. http://www.ehs.sunysb.edu/fire/disabilities/asp

Syllabus

Session One: Sept 9th
Introduction

Session Two: Sept 16th
The Need for More than Justice
Virginia Held, "Introduction" (J&C)
Annette Baier "The Need for More Than Justice" (J&C)
Optional: Joan Tronto, "Women and Caring: What Can Feminists Learn About Morality from Caring" (J&C)
Virginia Held, "Feminist Inquiry and the Feminist Future" (J&C)

Session Three: Sept 23rd
The (Kantian) Justice Tradition:
Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals-excerpts HO (unless people already possess book)
Kant, On the Common Saying: "This May be True in Theory, but It Does Not Apply in Practice" HO
John Rawls, A Theory of Justice -excerpts-- HO

Session Four: Sept 30th
The Question of Justice - Two Other Contractarians
David Gautier: "The Social Contract as Ideology" HO
Thomas Scanlon: What We Owe to Others-excerpts-- HO

Session Five: Oct 7th
Care Ethics I Some feminist formulations
Carol Gilligan, "Moral Orientation and Moral Development" (J&C)
Nel Noddings, "Caring" (J&C)
Optional: Marilyn Friedman, "Beyond Caring, 'The De-Moralization of Gender'" (J&C)

Session Six: Oct 14th
The Politics of Dependency
Nancy Fraser and Linda Gordon, A Genealogy of Dependency (SoC)
Fineman, Masking Dependency(SoC)
Ricki Solinger, Dependency and Choice, The Two Faces of Eve (SoC)
Optional:
Martha McCluskey, "Subsized Lives" (SoC)

Session Seven: Oct 21st
Care, Dependency and Race
Dorothy Roberts, Poverty, Race and the Distortion of Dependency: The Case of Kinship Care (SoC)
Ofelia Schutte, "Dependency Work, Women and the Global Economy"(SoC)
Elizabeth Spelman, "Race and the Labor of Identity" (SoC)

Session Eight: Oct 28th
Theorizing the Labor of Care and Justice
Martha Nussbaum, "The Future of Feminist Liberalism" (SoC)
Bubeck, "Justice and The Labor of Care (SoC)
Optional: Kittay, Love's Labor, chapters 3,4, -excerpts-- HO

Session Nine: Nov 4th
The Virtue of Dependency and Care
MacIntyre, Dependent Rational Animals, -excerpts-- HO
Michael Slote, Morals from Motives, -excerpts-- HO

Session Ten: Nov 11th
Dependency, Capabilities and Welfare
Amartya Sen, "Equality of What" HO
Stephen Darwall, Welfare and Rational Care -excerpts-- HO

Session Eleven: Nov 18th
Dependency, Care and Disability
Eva Kittay, "When Caring is Just and Justice is Caring: The Case of Mental Retardation" (SoC)
Ellen Feder, "'Doctors' Orders': Parents and Intersexed Children"
Alisdair MacIntyre, "The Need for a Standard of Care" (AwD)

Session Twelve: Nov 25th
Dependency, Disability, -- Justice, Inclusion and Agency I
Francis and Silvers, "Introduction: Achieving the Right to Live in the World" (AwD)
Lawrence Becker, "The Good of Agency" (AwD)
Anita Silvers, "The Unprotected" (AwD)

Session Thirteen: Dec 2nd
Dependency, Disability, -- Justice, Inclusion and Agency II
Richard Arneson, "Disability, Discrimination and Priority" (AwD)
Thomas Pogge, "Justice for People with Disabilities" (AwD)

Session Fourteen: Dec 9th

OPEN-For determination by class