<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This first part of a two-part series exploring implications of the natural differences between the sexes for the cultural evolution of marriage assesses whether Kant should be condemned as a sexist due to his various offensive claims about women. Being antithetical to modern-day assumptions regarding the equality of the sexes, Kant’s views seem to contradict his own egalitarian ethics. A philosophical framework for making cross-cultural ethical assessments requires one to assess those in other cultures by their own ethical standards. Sexism is inappropriate if it exhibits or reinforces a tendency to <italic>dominate</italic> the opposite sex. Kant’s theory of marriage, by contrast, illustrates how sexism can be egalitarian: given the natural differences between the sexes, different roles and cultural norms help to ensure that females and males are equal. Judged by the standards of his own day and in the context of his philosophical system, Kant’s sexism is not ethically inappropriate.</p></abstract>

This first part of a two-part series exploring implications of the natural differences between the sexes for the cultural evolution of marriage assesses whether Kant should be condemned as a sexist due to his various offensive claims about women. Being antithetical to modern-day assumptions regarding the equality of the sexes, Kant’s views seem to contradict his own egalitarian ethics. A philosophical framework for making cross-cultural ethical assessments requires one to assess those in other cultures by their own ethical standards. Sexism is inappropriate if it exhibits or reinforces a tendency to dominate the opposite sex. Kant’s theory of marriage, by contrast, illustrates how sexism can be egalitarian: given the natural differences between the sexes, different roles and cultural norms help to ensure that females and males are equal. Judged by the standards of his own day and in the context of his philosophical system, Kant’s sexism is not ethically inappropriate.

Egalitarian Sexism: A Kantian Framework for Assessing the Cultural Evolution of Marriage (I)

Ethics & Bioethics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

This first part of a two-part series exploring implications of the natural differences between the sexes for the cultural evolution of marriage assesses...

Egalitarian Sexism: A Kantian Framework for Assessing the Cultural Evolution of Marriage (I)

Published Online: Jun 26, 2017

Page range: 35 - 55

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ebce-2017-0009

Keywords
Immanuel Kant, sexism, marriage, egalitarian ethics, cross-cultural assessments, cultural evolution, nature of the sexes

© 2017 Stephen R. Palmquist, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Egalitarian Sexism: A Kantian Framework for Assessing the Cultural Evolution of Marriage (I)

Published Online: Jun 26, 2017

Page range: 35 - 55

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ebce-2017-0009

KeywordsImmanuel Kant, sexism, marriage, egalitarian ethics, cross-cultural assessments, cultural evolution, nature of the sexes

© 2017 Stephen R. Palmquist, published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Immanuel Kant, sexism, marriage, egalitarian ethics, cross-cultural assessments, cultural evolution, nature of the sexes