Respond to at least two of your colleagues’ postings in one or more of the following ways:
Ask a probing question: always put the question in context.
Share an insight from having read your colleague’s posting.
Offer and support an opinion.
Validate an idea with your own experience.
Make a suggestion.
Expand on your colleague’s posting.
Colleague 1: G. Hern
How can you determine if something is philosophically correct if you exclude women and other cultures? Many philosophers have argued if historical records are correct, they cannot be complete if it excludes women and other cultures. It is argued that early male philosophers were not misogynistic because it was just the thought of the time early Athenians believed that women were inferior to men. It is very well known that Aristotle was misogynistic as stated in The Standford Encyclopedia, “Courage of a man lies in commanding, a women’s lies in obeying; that matter yearns from form, as female for the male and the ugly for the beautiful; that women have fewer teeth than men; that female is an incomplete male or an as it were a deformity.” Just to name a few.
The issue with this is that it is as according to The Standford Encyclopedia, “How can women philosophers be rewoven into the history of philosophy so that they are an integral part of history?” Women used the “Best Supporting Actress” approach to allow male philosophers to keep the “leading role” but still integrate women into the mix. One female philosopher that really stands out to me is Simone de Beauvoir, she was the youngest philosopher to pass the philosophy exams at Frances best university. She developed a new form of philosophy known as existentialism. She argued that humans are born free and thrown into life without a plan. We are here to create our own lives’ meaning. She also believed that she should not have to live up to society’s idea of women and often found it hard to be respected by her male peers. Her book “The Second Sex” has philosophies that are still discussed today. Philosophies express that women are systematically ally oppressed because they become the other. As stated in the YouTube video, The meaning of life According to Simone de Beauvoir, “And to “become” woman, she argued, was to become the other. De Beauvoir defined othering as the process of labeling women as less than the men who’d historically defined and been defined as the ideal human subject.” She provided a new way for feminists to promote additional identities including racial identities.
We have also seen oppression in diverse cultures, besides the white Greek philosophers. Philosopher Henry Odera Oruka wanted to establish themes involving questions regarding the nature of the supreme being, the concept of person, the meaning of freedom, equality, death, and the belief in the afterlife. He was concerned that early Greeks were considered philosophical but African sages were not. He believed that biases were created to make philosophy a way of certain races. I believe that African Sage philosophy has been disregarded as people of color have been disregarded.
Just like with everything studied, women and people of color have been oppressed and not taken seriously. Because of these new voices, we have seen different viewpoints throughout philosophy. Simone’s works have been used to promote feminism and are talked about even today. Different voices bring different ideas.
Resources
Feminist History of Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). (2021, May 20). Retrieved September 12, 2022, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-femhis…
African Sage Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). (2016, February 22). Retrieved September 12, 2022, from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/african-sage/
undefined [TED-Ed]. (2020, March 10). The meaning of life according to Simone de Beauvoir – Iseult Gillespie [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved September 12, 2022, from
Colleague 2: L. Bau
Women have had to overcome workplace obstacles like sexual harassment. Racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in the field of philosophy. Woman have always been discredited as well as not getting equal pay. An example is this actress name Ellen Pompeo from Greys Anatomy fought for equal pay because she wasn’t given the same pay cut as the men on the show and this is an example of how far behind in the times dating all the way back to the beginning of time, and how men can feel this entitlement and that woman are beneath them. Men has always thought of woman less then never there equal. It even happens in Hollywood or the fact that there would be sexual harassment at the work force and their boss was a male dominating the woman and if they said anything their job and career were over.
Another example is white people have more privilege then dark skin individual will have. We are now in 2022 and were finally putting a stop by creating a safer work place, by adding times up movement which sparked woman speaking up and saying enough is enough as Ellen Pompeo said” there’s a ton of women in the room,” Pompeo said. “But I don’t see enough color. And I didn’t see enough color when I walked into the room today.” As Caucasian people, it’s our job, it’s our task,” she continued. “It’s our responsibility to make sure that we speak up in every single room we walk into . . . It’s our job because we’ve created the problem.” Which predicated back to early philosophers and how in Western times we still have this problem as well as not being culturally educated. In western times we are changing, we have lots of work to do but we are changing equal pay, standing up when our superiors are threatening our jobs because we are not giving their sexual desires. I believe we are changing but there is much more progress to be made.
References https://www.vogue.com/article/ellen-pompeo-interview-snapped-equal-pay-diversity-hollywood
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-femhist/
