Singing in the Fire; Stories of Women in Philosophy

by Linda Martín Alcoff (Editor)

Ask most people to imagine a philosopher and they probably think of someone like Socrates―absent-minded, perhaps, but with a sharp intellect and a thirst for the truth. A woman juggling car pools and housework is not the first image that springs to mind, but women have taken huge steps in the philosophy profession over the past 50 years. Still, to this day, well-established women philosophers continue to face sexism from colleagues and students. Singing in the Fire is a unique, groundbreaking collection of autobiographical essays by leading women in philosophy. It mines the experience of the generation that witnessed, and helped create, the remarkable advances now evident for women in the field. These women are leaders and innovators, looking back on how they have been treated, how they might have done things differently, and how we might make progress in future generations.

Genres: Philosophy, Feminism, Nonfiction, History, Womens

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Linda Martín Alcoff (born July 25, 1955 in Panama) is a philosopher at the City University of New York who specializes in epistemology, feminism, race theory and existentialism. From 2012 to 2013, she served as president of the American Philosophical Association (APA), Eastern Division. Alcoff has called for greater inclusion of historically under represented groups in philosophy and notes that philosophers from these groups have created new fields of inquiry, including feminist philosophy, critical race theory, and LGBTQ philosophy. To help address these issues, with Paul Taylor and William Wilkerson, she started the Pluralist Guide to Philosophy. She earned her PhD in Philosophy from Brown University. She was recognized as the distinguished Woman Philosopher of 2005 by the Society for Women in Philosophy and the APA. She began teaching at Hunter College and the City University of New York Graduate Center in early 2009, after teaching for many years at Syracuse University.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Among other things, this collection is quite good at making you (me) confront your (my) internalized misogyny.

The other things, in no particular order -

Stephanie Lewis (David Lewis' widow) is a delightful and engaging person.

I particularly appreciated Karen Warren's essay, which discusses the struggles and the triumphs of a career in philosophy.

This collection is good at giving you an idea of what it's like to be a professional philosopher, too. Sometimes that can look hazy and amorphous, and I guess it's still a bit hazy - but reading this gives you more of an idea about what the job can be like.

Related reading: NYT series on women in philosophy; What is it like to be a woman in philosophy?; What we're doing about what it's like.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Consoling and agitating.

[Jacob Hale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Essays by female academic philosophers, mostly in the United States, about their experiences in the discipline -- in being disciplined, in resisting discipline. It would be easy to read this and think that the conditions for women in academic philosophy have improved tremendously, and to feel grateful towards the women, including those in this anthology, who have paved the way. It would be easy, but it would be too easy and, while not entirely wrong, too complacent. I hope that Martin Alcoff, or someone else, will soon put together an antho. of experientally informed essays that exemplify the ways in which subtle but still pervasive sexism not only limits women's options and opportunities but also gives white, straight, non-trans women with backgrounds of class privilege a huge advantage compared to other women in this field.

[Eesha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Balm for the spirit. Nothing is more beutiful than women living their lives on their own terms, in the face of a world that tells them to settle and no longer strive. I wish every philosopher and philosophy student would read this.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

from the library