180082 VO-L Current Aspects of Gender Ethics (2022S)

Aim
This lecture will provide an introduction into philosophical argumentation, enabling students to handle complex questions and challenges in recent cultural, scientific and social contexts in relation to gender theory and practice, in order to critically reflect on crisis phenomena of our time: e.g. naturalistic fallacy in conceptions of the human being; poverty, care, etc. A further aim is to develop a philosophical understanding of intersectionality and the categories of gender-racification-class.

Content Outline
The category of gender is examined philosophically from an intersectional perspective in the context of ethically relevant concerns. This course is divided into three sections. First, an overview of selected classical approaches to gender-specific ethical conceptions in gender studies, LGBTIQ theory and practice will be unfolded, e.g. Carol Gilligan's core theses; Judith Butler's ethics of non-violence and Herta Nagl-Docekal's innovative approach to feminist ethics. Different discourses, such as the definition of the gender mainstreaming program of the Council of Europe in 1998 and antigender polemics in mass media (whereby the term antigenderism has been carefully philosophically examined), are based on specific concepts of human beings, which are a key task for gender ethics (see Judith Butler's question: Who is considered a human being? and her ethical reflections on this). What contribution can philosophy make to current gender-specific questions and problems? This leads into the second, systematic, part of this lecture, which deals with the question: Are there classical philosophical theories of ethics that gender philosophy can draw upon from the perspective of developing principles for a gender-just society? This lecture series will explore this with reference to core theoretical texts by Immanuel Kant and G.W.F. Hegel. Starting from Immanuel Kant's - Conflict of the Faculties - , the method and task of philosophy will be demonstrated. The reference to Kant and Hegel, however, is not merely in a philosophical-historical sense, but rather from a systematic perspective: Are there developed conceptual instruments - concepts such as person, individual, identity, autonomy, heteronomy, subject, morality, law, normativity, community, love, friendship, etc. - that can be taken up and further considerated for the analysis of current socio-political problems? What does it mean to be a human being from a gender-ethical point of view? The current debates on racialization in Kant will be discussed. This opens the third and last part of this course, namely the critical examination of the current distortions of human coexistence from a gender-philosophical point of view. From the perspective of a gender-just society, what ethical behavior is needed for a liberal democracy based on human rights? Topics such as political freedom, political action and public happiness in the sense of Hannah Arendt, solidarity and resistance,will be considered. Sabine Hark's recent work Gemeinschaft der Ungewählten will also be discussed in more detail. Based on Seyla Benhabib's work, identity ruptures in a cultural context are discussed from a gender-ethical perspective. On the basis of central arguments by Kimberlé Crenshaw, the question of the connection between racialization and gender will be examined, and with reference to bell hooks, the category of "class" will be brought into focus. Antihumanism and transhumanism challenge philosophical ethics in a specific manner, which will be discussed in a very fundamental way in this lecture.

Method
Lecture with plenty of discussion; hopefully in person. If necessary, hybrid and additional audio recording of VL material, posted on Moodle.