PHIL UN2110

I learned how to evaluate structures of patriarchy, misogyny, and sexism throughout history using philosophical tools and framework. We learned the institutional justifications for pernicious hierarchies and rigid caste structures that continue to pervade society today.

I learned in depth about various lanes of philosophy, with feminist themes. I gained perspective tools of philosophy which can be applied elsewhere in life.

We learned about the arguments for women as inferior, about how women resisted that, about the social construction of gender, sex, and sexuality, about intersectionality and the prison industrial complex, and more.

I learned about the philosophical origins of the pernicious idea that women are inferior to men and how human bodies and their desires are shaped by discourse. I also learned about how ideas of caste, race, and the penal system shape the relationship people have with their bodies and what the societal implications of that are.

There is entirely too much to list here. This course was recommended to my by a friend that told me it allowed him to view the world in a different way and I came away from the course with exactly that.

Theories of feminism and its relationship to epistemology, science, justice, economics, and knowledge.

This course completely changed the way that I understand the world and my place in it. I gained a deeper understanding of philosophy and general as well as how to understand social and economic forces and how to use them to create a better community.

I felt like I learned so much in this course about gender and how we construct/perceive it. I had read some of the authors on our syllabus before and wasn't sure if I would benefit from taking this class because of that; but Professor Mercer provided new perspectives and pointed out aspects I had never considered. We discussed everything from Biblical womanhood, the construction of gender and knowledge, the prison industrial complex, intersectionality, queer philosophy, and feminist epistemology.

Learned philosophical tools to understand different issues

The first few weeks were very insightful about the history of sexism and hierarchies, and the creation of misogyny. After that, a lot of concepts were repeated again and again, seemingly to drill concepts into students' minds. These concepts were wider philosophical principles, such as the production of knowledge.