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Incorporates memoir in the context of philosophical and political theory and argument.
Presenting essays rich with her own personal experiences, philosopher Linda A. Bell examines not only her own life but also problems arising from ways that living affects thinking. She reflects on her own experience in order to challenge a variety of provocative claims, including: that affirmative action harms those it is designed to help; that suicide, while perhaps acceptable for some with fatal diseases, is otherwise a manifestation of mental illness; that women are to blame for male violence toward them if they don't leave the relationships; that a low profile is the best path to success for women in academe; that women are treated fairly in academe, perhaps even better than men; and that "political correctness" is a recent and aberrant move away from respect for freedom of speech. Although drawing from experience as she creates and critiques theory, Bell argues against the view that it is the bedrock of theory.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I: REMEMBERING A LIFE
1. Philosophy—A Lifeline
2. Within Some Not-So-Hallowed Halls of Ivy: Mid to Late 1960s
3. Unwrapping Anger
4. A Chinese Fortune Cookie
5. No, I Didn't Leave: A Cautionary Tale
6. An Affirmative Action Poster Professor
7. A Sketchy History of "Political Incorrectness" as Experienced by a Survivor
8. Do You, or Does Someone You Know, Have Vaginal Fortitude?
9. Individual Need and Societal Change: A Balancing Act Inspired by Virginia Woolf
10. Can Men Really Not Control Themselves? A Response to Camille Paglia, 1991
11. Focusing on Violence While Empowering Its Victims
12. Two Days in the Life of an Academic Feminist: Mid 1990s
13. An Aunt's Death: 1997
Part II: HOW THEORY EMERGES FROM, INCORPORATES, AND CHALLENGES SUCH EXPERIENCES
14. Different Oppressions: A Feminist Exploration of Sartre's Anti-Semite and Jew
15. Friendship, Love, and Experience
16. I'm Sort of White and Mostly Middle Class—Want to Make Something of It?
17. Identity Politics, Standpoint Theory, and Objectivity: An Ongoing Argument with My Friend Diane L. Fowlkes
18. Calvin Hears a Who: Calvin O. Schrag and Postmodern Selves
Navigating Treacherous Waters: A Tentative Conclusion
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index