Feminists and fools
imagination and philosophy of religion
pp. 3-16
in: Pamela S. Anderson (ed), New topics in feminist philosophy of religion, Berlin, Springer, 2010Abstract
The year 1998 saw the publication of two works of feminist philosophy of religion: Pamela Sue Anderson's Feminist Philosophy of Religion (Oxford: Blackwell) and Grace M. Jantzen's Becoming Divine: Towards a Feminist Philosophy of Religion (Manchester: Manchester University Press). Both of these works attribute great significance to the notions of imagination and the imaginary, yet these notions are understood in significantly different ways. Jantzen's imaginary is primarily inspired by the work of Irigaray, while Le Doeuff's philosophical imaginary has been the main inspiration for Anderson.This chapter revisits these notions of the imaginary, in particular, the philosophical imaginary in order to reconsider the position of a feminist philosopher of religion. Noting limitations in both Jantzen's and Anderson's use of the term, it then turns the question around, asking whether philosophical reflection on imagination, and on religion as an act of imagination, can become part of philosophy of religion.
