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UBC Theses and Dissertations
Feminism in purgatory: the ontological subject caught between modernity and postmodernity Dalgliesh, Bregham
Abstract
By assuming there to be a philosophical relationship between one’s ontology and the politico-moral framework one advocates, this thesis places modern political philosophy in the context of meaninglessness to argue that liberal ontologies and communitarian frameworks have historically excluded women from being ontologically self-determining, morally free, and from equal respect. Taking both these philosophies as characteristic of modern patriarchalism, it is claimed they responded to the decline of premodern metaphysical meaning through an elaboration of institutional frameworks dominated by reason and order, and in juxtaposition to women and nature. However, in order to transcend this modern patriarchal framework and its associated masculine ontology, feminism experiences a sense of intellectual purgatory. Desperate to establish, at the least, a gender neutral post-patriarchal framework, feminism cannot risk positing a universally applicable ontology on which to base it for fear of committing the same error of exclusion of modern ontologies. Nonetheless, feminism remains at the same time committed to a postmodern politico-moral framework that disparages metanarratives and universal ontologies. Feminism, therefore, is caught at the ontological level between modernity’s framework which it rejects, and postmodern ontologies which are not sufficient on their own to transform this framework.
Item Metadata
Title |
Feminism in purgatory: the ontological subject caught between modernity and postmodernity
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Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
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Date Issued |
1994
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Description |
By assuming there to be a philosophical relationship between one’s ontology and the
politico-moral framework one advocates, this thesis places modern political philosophy in
the context of meaninglessness to argue that liberal ontologies and communitarian
frameworks have historically excluded women from being ontologically self-determining,
morally free, and from equal respect. Taking both these philosophies as characteristic of
modern patriarchalism, it is claimed they responded to the decline of premodern
metaphysical meaning through an elaboration of institutional frameworks dominated by
reason and order, and in juxtaposition to women and nature. However, in order to
transcend this modern patriarchal framework and its associated masculine ontology,
feminism experiences a sense of intellectual purgatory. Desperate to establish, at the least, a
gender neutral post-patriarchal framework, feminism cannot risk positing a universally
applicable ontology on which to base it for fear of committing the same error of exclusion
of modern ontologies. Nonetheless, feminism remains at the same time committed to a
postmodern politico-moral framework that disparages metanarratives and universal
ontologies. Feminism, therefore, is caught at the ontological level between modernity’s
framework which it rejects, and postmodern ontologies which are not sufficient on their
own to transform this framework.
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Extent |
2554277 bytes
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Genre | |
Type | |
File Format |
application/pdf
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Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2009-02-27
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0094718
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
1994-11
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Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.