Subjection & Subjectivity

by Meyers, Diana Tietjens

• ISBN13: 9780415905084
• ISBN10: 0415905087
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-11-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Subjection and Subjectivityoffers an account of moral subjectivity and moral reflection designed to meet the needs of feminism, as well as other emancipatory movements. Diana Tietjens Meyers argues that impartial reason--the appraoch to moral reflection which has dominated 20th century Anglo-American philosophy and judicial reasoning--is inadequate for addressing real world injustices. Dealing with the problems of group-based social exclusion requires empathy with others. But empathy often becomes distorted by prejudicial attitudes which may be publicly condemned but continue to be transmitted through cultural figurations. Meyers uses Julia Kristeva's work on xenophobia and aesthetic practices as a starting point for developing a feminist politics of dissident speech, one that aims to dislodge prejudice. With the goal of offering an empathy-friendly account of moral reflection and judgment, she shows how moral reflection embodies the value of mutual recognition--a valueenunciated in the work of Nancy Chodorow and Jessica Benjamin. Meyers argues that it is a mistake to view the moral subject as independent, transparent and rational. Instead, she presents a picture of a heterogeneous and pluralistic subject, one that is defined by ties to other people, liable to misunderstand its own motives and aims, and in need of a repertory of strategies for purposes of moral reflection.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Difference: The Challenge to Moral Reflection	p. 1
The Problem of Difference	p. 3
The Problem of the Moral Subject	p. 6
Psychoanalytic Feminism and Moral Reflection	p. 8
Difference and Figuration	p. 11
Empathy and Moral Judgment	p. 14
Difference, Empathy, and Impartial Reason	p. 20
Impartial Reason: Recovering Sameness and Redefining the Person	p. 22
Impartial Reason's Need for Empathy	p. 26
The Case for Relying on Empathy in Moral Reflection	p. 31
Incident-Specific Empathy and Broad Empathy	p. 34
Empathy: Handmaiden to Impartial Reason?	p. 38
Prejudice and Cultural Imagery	p. 42
Impartial Reason and Prejudice	p. 44
A Kantian Account of Prejudice	p. 48
Culturally Normative Prejudice	p. 51
Dissident Speech: Figuration as Critique	p. 56
Psychoanalytic Feminism and Dissident Speech	p. 62
Freud's Figuration of Femininity	p. 63
The Refiguration of Gender in Psychoanalytic Feminist Dissident Speech	p. 69
Jessica Benjamin: Rational Violence	p. 72
Nancy Chodorow: A Revalued Mother	p. 78
Julia Kristeva: The Degendered Father of Prehistory	p. 83
Luce Irigaray: Two Lips and Women's Desire	p. 86
The Positivist Worry about Dissident Speech	p. 91
Dissident Speech: Figuration and the Politicization of Moral Perception	p. 93
Women as Dissidents: Kristeva's View	p. 95
Love, Beauty, and Obligation: Nussbaum's Account of Moral Figuration	p. 98
Politicizing Love: Solidarity and Dissident Speech	p. 100
Polyvocal Dissident Speech: Counterfiguration without Homogenization	p. 106
Trying on the Trope: Dissident Speech and Emancipatory Moral Perception	p. 108
Hijacking the Imaginary: The Complementarity of Cultural and Material Politics	p. 113
Postscript: Liberating Philosophy from Narrow Professionalism	p. 115
Empathic Thought: Responding Morally to Difference	p. 119
Empathy, Recognition, and the Emergence of Moral Subjectivity	p. 122
Self-recognition, Moral Identity, and Moral Subjectivity	p. 127
From Empathy to Moral Judgment	p. 131
Three Challenges to Empathic Thought	p. 135
Empathic Thought without Intimacy	p. 136
Moral Reflection without Superordinate Moral Criteria	p. 138
Moral Identity without Unitary Subjects	p. 143
Coparenting, Impartial Reason, and Empathic Thought	p. 147
Empathic Thought and the Politics of Rights	p. 152
Political Discourse and Empathic Thought	p. 155
Nonunitary Political Identity, Injustice, and Rights	p. 157
Dynamic Moral Reflection and Social Criticism	p. 166
Notes	p. 171
Bibliography	p. 185
Index	p. 195
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