Research Group
in Analytic Philosophy

Abstract

Recent work within analytic feminist philosophy has focused mainly on analysis on gender and race and, to a lesser degree, sexuality and class. It has also been acknowledged that these categories interact in complex ways in subjects giving raise to specific kinds of oppressions. Intersectionality, with its origins within the black feminist thought, is the concept that aims at capturing this multiplicity and complexity. Despite its relevance for contemporary theoretical and empirical research, as well as for political action, it has not received much attention from analytic feminism. In this talk, I aim at contributing to some philosophical development by presenting different conceptual problems, and thus challenges to be taken, involved in intersectionality research: the nature of the relation among social categories, the adequacy and possibility of associated metaphors, the analysis of intersectional experience, and the nature and functioning of different levels of social reality. Against the background of these challenges I evaluate some current views and I finally sketch an account that provides answers to those questions.