Interview with Cynthia Willett

To give you some idea of how riveting it is…

My chair told me that I could not both be a mother and a philosopher, at least not as he understood philosophy. So I decided that to do both classes in philosophical anthropology, ethics, and so on, my teaching would have to be radically altered. I would not teach straight from the traditional views but from the views of unconventional caregivers and the renegade scientists whose ideas resonated with my own experiences. I taught Hegel and Heidegger–but through the critical perspectives of Irigaray, and the psychologist Daniel Stern, and the novelist Toni Morrison. At this time these juxtapositions were way out for the discipline, but then with colleagues who thought that even Hegel wasn’t a philosopher, I figured the sky was the limit.

For the rest, go here. (New APPS just keeps the good stuff coming!)

One thought on “Interview with Cynthia Willett

  1. It’s wonderful! I’m not going to try to rephrase what she says about the lack of philosophical theories of engagement, but I urge people to read through what she has to say. For now I want to think before I speak – or write.

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