Essay Four – Marxist/Socialist and Existentialist Feminisms

Requirements - Each student will write a roughly three page essay. This essay is due by 2 PM on March 6 either in my box in the Philosophy Office on the 4th floor of Morrill Hall or via email attachment.  If via email must be in MS Word 2007 for Windows or below or WordPerfect 12 for Windows or below or pdf.  I often cannot open Microsoft Works or other files. You should send with a return receipt or ask me to reply to make sure I have received the attachment.  If you copy yourself, you should also be able to see if the attachment worked.  Note the policy on late papers in the policy section at the end of the syllabus. If your paper will be late, please send via email so there is a time and date  it was sent.

1. Your essay should be word-processed, double-spaced, one-inch to one and one-half inch margins. It should be spell-checked and grammar-checked. Pages Numbered. Font no smaller than 12 point.

2. You should have a cover page with title, date, prompt, class and section, and your name. 

3.    Number each paragraph.    Bold your thesis.  After the end of the essay, attach an OUTLINE of the essay with the thesis clearly stated and at minimum a line for each paragraph.

4. Each essay should be approximately two to three pages long (not including the title page or Works Consulted page).

5. You must include a Works Consulted/Cited Page and/or Complete Footnotes/Endnotes.  You may use MLA, Turabian, Harvard, or University of Chicago in-text, footnote, or endnote styles. APA is OK, provided you add page numbers to it. CAREFUL AND CORRECT CITATION IS REQUIRED. WHEN IN DOUBT, CITE. Remember that simply paraphrasing or changing every third word is not OK. Quote and cite or radically summarize and cite. Use quotation marks when quoting or indent if quote is five lines or longer. Guessing at where your information comes from is not OK. Use page numbers in your in-text citations, footnotes or endnotes. Book or journal titles are italicized or underlined.  You need not consult any other sources than what we have read for class.  Those sources and any other sources you consult must be included in your Works Consulted/Cited and cited in-text or in footnotes/endnotes.

6. Your essay should define any key terms used, use examples to illustrate and support your argument where appropriate, and discuss likely alternatives or respond to possible objections.

Please consult the Essay Grading/Proofreading Rubric for further details.

Choose One of the following prompts:

1.  What is a feminist standpoint according to Hartsock?  How does Marxist theory influence her concept of a feminist standpoint?

2.  Hartsock believes that a women's contributions to both subsistence and to childrearing gives them certain insights that males lack. Identify one or two of these insights.   Is her argument on this point convincing?  OR To what extent could one relate her ideas "care feminism"?

3.  After reading Engels and Hartsock, how much of a contribution does Marxist/socialist/materialist thought make to feminist thought in your view?

4.  What does Hartsock mean when she claims that "socially mediated interaction with nature in the process of production shapes both human beings and theories of knowledge"?   Do repeated activities producing goods or services help to shape an epistemological perspective in your view?  Why or why not? 

5. Describe one key theme that de Beauvoir develops in her Introduction and/or Conclusion and discuss one strength and one weakness of her argument.

6.  Discuss at least two key existentialist concepts de Beauvoir employs in The Second Sex. Are there any points at which she breaks with existentialism?

7. Argue for or against the thesis that de Beauvoir does not like women.

8.  Pick a specific argument or issue in the Engels or Hartsock  or de Beauvoir assigned readings Reconstruct the argument or issue in the first half of the essay and comment on it in the second half.    The comment may point out a strength or weakness, point to an important implication, show how one could develop the argument or issue further, etc.

9.  **Wildcard.  Choose a topic and check it out with the professor via email or in person.  It is important to pick a topic that is not too broad to be covered in three pages.