Challenging Liberalism

Lisa H. Schwartzman is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Michigan State University.

• ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I A Feminist Critique of Liberalism1.Individualism, Oppression, and Liberal Rights Theory2.Abstract Ideals and Social Inequality: Dworkin’s Equality of Resources3.Rawlsian Abstraction and the Social Position of WomenPart II Abstraction, Ideals, and Feminist Methodologies4.Idealization, Abstraction, and the Use of Ideals in Feminist Critique5.Feminism as an Alternative MethodologyPart IIIFeminist Postmodernism: An Alternative to Liberalism?6.Politicized Identity, Women’s Experience, and the Law7.Speech, Authority, and Social ContextConclusion: Toward a Feminist Approach to Political TheorizingNotesBibliographyIndex

“In her clear and engaging book, Lisa Schwartzman argues that liberalism fails as a theory of justice because it fails to uncover and resist oppression. Drawing on the work of Catharine MacKinnon, Judith Butler, and Wendy Brown, she offers original, feminist critiques of Nussbaum, Rawls, Okin, and Dworkin. This book will be of interest to political philosophers from both liberal and feminist schools as well as legal theorists.”—Ann E. Cudd, University of Kansas