Philosophy 1020 Lecture Notes - Virginia Held, Presupposition, Feminist Ethics
Document Summary
They are not doubted because we have never examined them. Often they are built into the structure of a given inquiry. Philosophy can bring presuppositions out of the darkness, and properly assessing them. Many fields major advances happen because someone discovers and overturns a presupposition. Ex: geocentric theory the earth must be at the centre. Questioning presuppositions is often hard thinking outside the box. It is hard, makes you feel disoriented. This is the kind of work feminist ethics and virginia held have be doing. V. h argues that ethics has subtle, well-enriched, presuppositions about the nature of ethical theory. Presuppositions of ethics have been relegation the ethical experience of women to the sidelines, leaving half the human race out of ethics. Three presuppositions of classical ethics: reason and emotion classical ethics prizes reason over emotion, public and private sphere radical spilt, ideas of the self. Traditional sees emotions as something that needs to be restrained by reason.