WHAT IS FEMINIST PHILOSOPHY

In Part One which deals with the clarification of conceptions the author explains what is concerned: it is not a matter of an additional, isolated sub-discipline of philosophy, but of the perspective of research related to the whole discipline. Feminist philosophy is philosophizing which is concerned with the comprehension of woman. Part Two of this article distinguishes different conceptions of the respective problem. On the one hand, historical-critical investigations are needed, it is necessary to restore: 1) the development of philosophy of the relation between the sexes; 2) the latent forms of women's elimination; 3) the concerns of women-philosophers. On the other hand, it is a matter of the creation of an alternative to patriarchal philosophy. Part Three attempts at a clear indication of the diverse and debatable starting points of feminist philosophy which have developed since the end of the sixties, particularly in comparison of the Continental and Anglo-Saxon debates. Nowadays we discern three phases of the discourse: the idea of equality which was at first in the foreground was exchanged by the interest in woman's difference and in her civilizational-critical ability to implement changes; at present, the attempts at uniting the sameness and difference of the sexes are however on the increase.