Reproducing The World: Essays In Feminist Theory (Feminist Theory and Politics Series)

The publication of papers and lectures of the kind offered here is both an honor and a somewhat alarming invitation to self-criticism. Most feminists are united in the devotion to the theory of "collectivity," to the need for radical equity among feminists. At the same time, structural constraints nourish the male concept of "leadership" and "distinction" in a way that results in a sort of star system, nourished by mass-produced food a t putative banquets and recycled feminist polemic entombed in the unrewarding format of the "conference paper." There is a lot of that stuff in my files, and the challenge to reproduce it. textually tends to bring on a deep yearning to deconstruct the lot.. However. the methodologies of deconstruction remain frozen in the dying languages of European patriarchy, despite the efforts of French women scholars to revitalize them. Further, the tendency of many feminists to worry about the ossification of the movement in the academy is largely a product of the class divisions in both liberal and socialist polities. Ln practice, the movement is active in many areas where both Literacy and theorizing yield to the urgency of the lived experience of women's oppression in diverse cultural contexts. Contents Reproducing the World State Power and Reproductive Freedom Abstract Thought and Feminist Theory The Tyranny of the Abstract:Structure, State, and Patriarchy Redefining Revolution:Women and Socialism Collective Pilgrimage:The Political Personal Resolute Anticipation:Heidegger and Beckett The Root of the Mandrake:Machiavelli and Manliness The Art of Falling Upwards:Milton on Marriage Hegel: Man, Physiology,and Fate Learning to Win Hegemony Theory andthe Reproduction of Patriarchy Feminism as Passionate Scholarship Political Ideology andPatriarchal Education Ethics and Ideology in Health Care:A Feminist Perspective Published after her death, this collection of essays provides a glimpse into the breadth of the work of feminist philosopher Mary O'Brien. The anthology is divided into three sections: "Feminist Theory" analyzes the significance of women's role as the source of life; "The Critique of Patriarchy" offers counterarguments to male philosophers and authors such as Machiavelli, Milton and Hegel; and "Women, Health, and Education" discusses the political concerns of medicine and schooling.