Speaker
Description
Title: "Can brown women be first-rate philosophers?"
Description:
In this presentation I will discuss the question ‘Can brown women be first-rate philosophers?’ in the context of Women doing Philosophy in the Philippines. This context is one in which questioning Filipina women’s aptitude and predilection for philosophy is normalized in professional communities dominated by men. For instance, a number of women, including myself, have found themselves on the receiving end of the following comment, “Magaling ka sa philo kasi lalaki ka!” (You’re good at philosophy because you’re a man!). I will analyze the experience of operating in a context where such comments are prevalent by engaging with Kristie Dotson’s work on epistemic oppression. She defines epistemic oppression as the persistent and unwarranted infringement on an agent’s ability to utilize shared epistemic resources such that she is hindered from fully participating in knowledge production. According to Dotson, although epistemic oppression is rooted in social and political factors, there are forms of epistemic oppression that are not reducible to these because of a feature of epistemological systems: resilience. Following this idea, my focus will be on the resilience of epistemic systems that perpetuate “operative, instituted social imaginaries, habits of cognition, attitudes towards knowers and/or any relevant sensibilities” that hinder members of certain groups from fully participating in the production of knowledge.
Speaker:
Prof. Jacklyn A. Cleofas, Ph.D.
University of the Philippines (Los Banos)
Hello I’m Jacklyn. I’m an Assistant Professor at the Humanities Department of University of the Philippines Los Baños. Previously, I was a tenured faculty member at the Ateneo de Manila University. I earned a PhD in Philosophy at the National University of Singapore. My specialization is on ethics, especially moral psychology and practical ethics. Most of my recent research involves virtue theory; mainly in the domain of ethics although I will soon expand into epistemology. I also do work in Asian philosophy, more specifically on early Confucian thought and Filipino philosophy.
I have a general interest in responsibilist virtue epistemology, Wittgenstein, epistemic injustice, conceptions of justice and virtue under the capability approach, and irrealist or relativist metaethical views that reject the idea that there is a single true morality. I also think about how to address practical problems related to faith, ranging from difficulties in living out Catholic Social Teaching to dealing with the crises caused by sex abuse and abuse of power in the church.
When I’m not working I spend time with my two dogs, Sen and Olive. I also like watching movies; but not as much as I enjoy wittertainment. My all time favorite movies include ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ (best enjoyed with ‘The Devil’s Backbone’), ‘Spirited Away,’ and ‘Maynila sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag.’ For anyone who needs a pick-me-up (who doesn’t these days?), I also recommend ‘Hot Fuzz’ and ‘ The Princess Bride.’
