Erika Ruonakoski

Finnish is one of the few existent Finno-Ugric languages, a language without articles, and with only one, genderless word for the pronouns “she” and “he”. Due to this, the problems faced by the Finnish translators of _The Second Sex_ differed in some ways from those discussed after the publication of the new English translation. This chapter describes the genesis of the second, unabridged Finnish translation, the choices made by the translators as well as the philosophical interpretations motivating those choices. In addition, Beauvoir’s way of understanding the concept of becoming is analyzed. The chapter ends with a discussion of the philosophy of translation and of the reception of the second Finnish translation.

Questions of power and ethics were implicitly present in the previous chapters. In this chapter, I deal with them in more detail, examining the power strugglesPower struggles in the classroom in terms of the relationship between the student and the lecturer as well as that between students. I also discuss ways out of the struggle, including a reflective attitude, classroom practices and considerations of spatial arrangements. Further, recognitionRecognition, generosityGenerosity and care are suggested as possible ways to overcome the difficult ethical situationsSituation in learning and teaching philosophy. In this context, I discuss the Oslo Summer SchoolSummer school, where care ethicsCareethics was used as the theoretical point of departure.

This chapter deals with the affective, social and bodily situationsituation of learning and teaching philosophy, starting with a discussion of the views articulated by both students and professional philosophers in the interviews and answers to the questionnaire on attitudes to studying philosophy. The discussions of women students’ “love” or “passion”Passion for philosophy and of the dynamics of alienationAlienation from philosophy lead to an examination of the alienation related to students’ social classSocial class, raceRaceand sexual orientationSexual orientation. As we saw earlier, feminist pedagogyFeminist pedagogy has typically tried to surpass the idea of reason that operates as separate from the feeling, sensing and moving body. In this chapter, I discuss the aspect of the sensesSenses and how they are and could be integrated in processes of learning more comprehensively. At the end of the chapter, I describe two summer schoolsSummer school. The first of these is the Icelandic one, Philosophy of the Body, which examined the possibility of teaching philosophy “through the body”. The second is the Danish summer schoolSummer school titled Feminist Political Philosophy.

This concluding chapter consists of three parts: the general conclusions of the whole book, “questions to ask oneself” and a discussion of the possibilities for renewing philosophy in the current state of university politics. Furthermore, the first part includes suggestions for empirical research on the underrepresentationUnderrepresentation of women in philosophy. The purpose of the second part is to help lecturers to think through their own teaching practices and possible shortcomings from the viewpoint of inclusiveness. In the third part, I ask what kind of politics could replace the neoliberal framework that has dominated the academic world for the past few decades.

How does the history of philosophy affect the situationSituation of women students in the field today and how has that situation changed over the years? From the very early days of philosophy, there have been women with either indirect or direct access to philosophical education. The fact that women are interested in philosophy and want to study it has received some attention even in the texts attributed to ancient philosophers, such as PlatoPlatoand PhintysPhintys. However, ever since those days, women have remained a minority within philosophy and their position in it has been fairly precarious. To analyse the perpetuation of women’s marginalisation in philosophy, I introduce Le Dœuff’s idea of the erotico-theoretical transference and discuss the cult of geniusGenius, cult of. In addition, I scrutinise the temporal and pedagogical meaning of having women predecessors in philosophy, and suggest ways of integrating such predecessors in the curriculum. The chapter ends with the goals and outcomes of a related experimental summer schoolSummer school titled Feminist Thinking in Historical Perspective.

This chapter analyzes Simone de Beauvoir’s way of combining different theoretical frameworks, in particular, those of phenomenology and psychoanalysis. To elucidate the nature of Beauvoirian interdisciplinarity, I will examine Beauvoir’s discussion of penis envy and her application of Helene Deutsch’s views. I will argue that the combination of psychoanalysis and phenomenology in The Second Sex brings about an inner tension, of which those interested in applying Beauvoir’s interdisciplinary approach should be aware.

Finnish is one of the few existent Finno-Ugric languages, a language without articles, and with only one, genderless word for the pronouns “she” and “he”. Due to this, the problems faced by the Finnish translators of The Second Sex differed in some ways from those discussed after the publication of the new English translation. This chapter describes the genesis of the second, unabridged Finnish translation, the choices made by the translators as well as the philosophical interpretations motivating those choices. In addition, Beauvoir’s way of understanding the concept of becoming is analyzed. The chapter ends with a discussion of the philosophy of translation and of the reception of the second Finnish translation.

The aim of this article is twofold. Firstly, it explicates Simone de Beauvoir’s views on literature as a means of communication. Secondly, it draws from her theoretical framework to illuminate the discussion on mortality and death in a poem by an ancient Greek woman epigrammatist, Anyte. These two goals are combined by the fact that for Beauvoir one of the most important tasks of literature was to break down the solitude of human existence by sharing the most intimate and painful experiences, such as the death of our loved ones. I will argue that Beauvoir’s insights help us understand literature and its most profound, communicative dimension. On the other hand, taking the Beauvoirian framework to a field unknown to it before will elucidate its potential as a tool for literary analysis. Finally, the dialogue the article establishes between two women authors, Beauvoir and Anyte, will provide us with a more detailed understanding of the meaning of death in human existence and in literary communication.