Social philosophers often invoke the concept of false consciousness in their analyses, referring to a set of evidence-resistant, ignorant attitudes held by otherwise sound epistemic agents, systematically occurring in virtue of, and motivating them to perpetuate, structural oppression. But there is a worry that appealing to the notion in questions of responsibility for the harm suffered by members of oppressed groups is victim-blaming. Individuals under false consciousness allegedly systematically fail the relevant rationality and epistemic conditions due to structural distortions of (...) reasoning or knowledge practices, undermining their status as responsible moral agents. But attending to the constitutive mechanisms and heterogeneity of false consciousness allows us to see how having it does not eo ipso render someone an inappropriate target of blame. I focus here on the 1889 anti-suffragist manifesto “An Appeal Against Female Suffrage,” arguing that its signatories, despite false consciousness, satisfy both conditions for ordinary blameworthiness. I consider three prominent signatories, observing that the irrationality characterisation is unsustainable beyond group-level diagnoses, and that their capacity to respond appropriately to reasons was not compromised. Following recent work on epistemic injustice, I also argue that culpable mechanisms constituted their false consciousness, rendering them blameworthy for the Appeal. (shrink)

This article characterizes Florence Nightingale's nursing reform as the cleaning of the Victorian home which she found unheimlich. She laid strong emphasis on an improvement in the hygiene of the house as a significant part of nursing, and, by establishing the nurse as a new occupation, gave the surplus of unmarried women a decent means of escape from the stifling domesticity in which they had been helplessly trapped. Her nursing at once reformed and reinforced the traditional role of woman as (...) a domestic figure, for she created the nurse as a mother figure in charge of the home space. In the Crimean War, Nightingale successfully nursed the idea of England as Home by attending to the dying soldiers at the front. Her crusade to nurse the unhomely space into a home, however, dismissed one uncanny place inside the imperial Home that needed urgent nursing, that is, Ireland, which had been suffering from the Great Famine and its aftermath. Nightingale confronted Irish Sisters of Mercy, who came to the Crimea to save the lives and souls of the Irish soldiers. These Irish nuns not only embodied the memories of the Famine which they had recently relieved, but also threatened Nightingale's single female authority by representing Ireland as a nation through their equally motherly presence. The service of the Irish nuns in the Crimean War was erased from the myth of the Lady with the Lamp. Nightingale could establish herself as an authoritative female subject and assumed the voice of England only by suppressing another female voice which challenged England's competence in Home management. (shrink)

The question, “Why has Harriet Taylor MM appeared in the history of philosophy as she has?” has several answers. The answers intertwine the personality and polities of Harriet, the sexism of those who wrote of her, misunderstandings of the means and meaning of her collaboration with John Stuart Mill, and the disturbing challenge of her questioning.

The historical analysis of the complex and often contradictory views of Florence Nightingale regarding the rights of women is explored in this paper. Feminism and nursing are often viewed as contradictory and antithetical. The relationship between the two is examined through the link between Florence Nightingale and her contemporary, Barbara Leigh‐Smith Bodichon. Leigh‐Smith was founder and primary financier of The English Women's Journal that provided a public platform for the major feminist writings of the period. Its offices in Langham Place (...) formed the administrative centre of the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women. Bodichon and her colleagues were often referred to as the ‘Langham Place Group’. Unexplored prior to this study was the fact that Leigh‐Smith and Nightingale were first cousins. Utilizing techniques of internal and external criticism, primary and secondary sources were surveyed relating to Nightingale and Leigh‐Smith. The views of both women on the subjects of the rights of women, women's suffrage, the employment status of women, and the societal place of women are compared and contrasted. The legacy of both Leigh‐Smith and Nightingale to twentieth century feminism, the status of women, and the profession of nursing is then elaborated. The exploration of the views of both Nightingale and Leigh‐Smith is important to gain a clearer understanding of the existing relationship between nursing and feminism. In keeping with the aims of feminist inquiry, women's experiences, specifically those of Nightingale and Leigh‐Smith, are the major ‘objects’ of investigation. The concluding interpretation provides a synthesis that is emancipatory as well as knowledge generative. (shrink)