How can we build a “Women's” philosophy?

McCallion, Anne‐Marie (2025) How can we build a “Women's” philosophy? Metaphilosophy. ISSN 0026-1068

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Abstract

Nancy Holland (1990, 1) defines “women's philosophy” as philosophical work that “arises from, explicitly refers to, and attempts to account for the experience of women.” A “women's” philosophy, distinct from “feminist” philosophy, would depict the lived reality of women's experiences without an explicit or self‐conscious desire to construct oppositional theories or arguments. This paper builds on Holland's discussion of a women's philosophy to propose a new perspective on the role and function of the philosophy curriculum. The paper shifts the conversation from one concerning whether a women's philosophy is “possible” to one that directly asks how we can build this philosophy. It argues that creating space for a women's philosophy need not require the reimagining of philosophical norms. Instead, the task should be understood as broadening perceptions of what counts as philosophy. The central claim is that we should witness curriculum construction as a tool for metaphilosophical intervention and as the first step towards building a women's philosophy. The paper shows how the incorporation of feminist autoethnography (a research approach and body of literature) into curriculums is particularly fruitful.