Symposium | Gender/s and Sexuality/ies in the History of Western Philosophy

Aix Marseille University and the research team Centre Gilles Gaston Granger (CNRS UMR 7304) are organizing, with the support of the GIS – Institut du Genre, a three days event on “Gender/s and Sexuality/ies in History of western Philosophy”

Gender and sexuality might first seem to be marginal objects of reflection in the History of western philosophy. Firstly, because there are little writings about them. Secondly, because these writings are often considered as less philosophical and systematic. Questions related to sexual difference, gender, and the place of sexuality in a philosophical anthropology, seem far removed from a reflection that often considers itself as universal and non-gendered, attached to a rational subject which, as such, is not marked by sexual difference.

One might conclude that gender and sexuality have only become worthy of interest, as philosophical themes, with the recent development of feminist critiques of this universal subject. Through this critique, the philosophical subject appears to be sexually situated and masculine, and his philosophical discourse, despite its seeming generality, appears to produce hierarchies and domination. A new field of study thus emerges in the 80’s, particularly in Anglo-Saxon literature, where gender becomes a critique and interpretative category, not only in the history of political philosophy (e.g. Okin 1979 ; Pateman 1988), but also in the history of metaphysics and epistemology (e.g. Lloyd 1984 ; Collin, Pisier, Varikas 2000).

This break, once produced its massive effects of renewal and critical readings, needs to be reconsidered in the context of a finer analysis of the philosophical tradition. This is the main objective of the two-days event “Gender/s and Sexuality/ies in History of western Philosophy”, which intends to combine both historical and critical approaches.

From a historical standpoint, one would like to question various philosophical discourses about gender and sexuality, in order to analyze and enlighten their specific conceptuality. We encourage contributions of specialists in Ancient, Modern and Contemporary Philosophy, questioning the way in which the concepts of sex or gender fit or resist to the larger doctrine in which they appear. Among this historical standpoint, comparative and dialogical approaches, within a specific philosophical period or context, are also welcome (e.g. Pellegrin 2020).

From a critical standpoint, one would like to question the ideological power of these discourses: the way in which they do not only relay historical prejudices, but contribute to form and justify common beliefs about gender which still inform our actual ways of thinking about it. In this sense, we encourage contributions that intend to start from the critical tradition (social or poststructuralist, feminist or ecofeminist), in order to reconsider particular philosophical works, from the most famous ones to the less known texts in the history of western philosophy.

Scientific board
Maddalena Bonelli, Università degli studi di Bergamo
Martina Ferrari, Villanova University, USA
Stanimir Panayotov, Institute for Literature, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Marie-Frédérique Pellegrin, IRHIM CNRS UMR 5317