Although outsiders may sometimes think that philosophy is one of the less dynamic fields, solidly rooted in the thought of philosophers of earlier days, that is far from the case. Nothing proves this more emphatically than feminist philosophy, a sector which barely existed a few short decades ago and which is steadily growing. Unlike other sectors, it is in some ways narrower, focusing on the situation of women but not by any means restricted to women philosophers. R>r the moment, most of the activity is limited to North America and Europe, but the boundaries are gradually expanding. In other ways, it is much broader, having something to say about works of many of the canonical philosophers, sometimes approving, sometimes criticizing, and occasionally appropriating. By now feminist philosophy is busy contributing to virtually every other branch of philosophy, whether ethics, epistemology, logic, or language, and also to Marxism, environmentalism, and obviously feminism.
Historical Dictionary of Feminist Philosophy covers a much longer span than merely the past few decades. Indeed, the chronology stretches back to those ancient Greek philosophers who dealt with the relevant issues tangentially, and on to modern philosophers for whom this is the primary concern. The dictionary entries therefore include Aristotle and Plato, and also Descartes and Kant, along with Wollstonecraft, Beau-voir, and Daly among the persons; care, ecofeminism, and racism among the topics; and dualism, femininity, and universalism among the concepts...