Nancy Tuana

Biographical Information

Nancy Tuana is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oregon.

"My current philosophical goal is to find a happy balance between my various life-activities, which include teaching, research, editing, campus activism, and parenting two very active young children. I teach primarily in the areas of philosophy of science, epistemology, and feminist theory. My teaching focus in philosophy of science has moved in the direction of science studies and is linked to my participation in the environmental studies program. In addition to philosophy courses in which I trace the movement of theorizing in philosophy of science in the US from logical positivism to the recent embrace of socialized and naturalized approaches to the study of science, I teach "Science, Technology, and Gender" for Women's Studies, and "Science Studies and the Environment" for Environmental Studies. My teaching interests in epistemology include the role of embodiment in knowing practices and advancing alternatives to the realism/anti-realism/constructivism distinctions. Although all of my courses include feminist approaches, I also teach courses that focus on feminist methodologies including: "Feminist Epistemologies," "Feminist Science Studies," "Feminist Philosophies of Religion," and "Feminist Theory." My favorite large lecture course is "Love and Sex" in which I develop an analysis of contemporary US beliefs and practices concerning intimacy richly informed by feminist and queer theory."

"I'm currently at work on Philosophy of Science Studies and, in that context and others, (see in particular, "Fleshing Gender, Sexing the Body") attempting to develop a metaphysics that arises out of Haraway's notion of material-semiotic and Whitehead's process metaphysic. My previous publications have been in the area of feminist science studies, The Less Noble Sex: Scientific, Religious, and Philosophical Conceptions of Woman's Nature (Indiana, 1993) and Feminism and Science (Indiana, 1989) and in the area of feminist historiography Woman and the History of Philosophy (Paragon, 1992) and Feminist Interpretations of Plato (Penn State Press, 1994). I am currently working on three anthologies. One arising from a conference held at the University of Oregon in 1997, EnGendering Rationalities, and two on the topic of male embodiment Revealing Male Bodies and Returning the Gaze. I am series editor for ReReading the Canon with Penn State Press. The series has ten volumes currently in print, with fifteen more under contract. I am also co-editor with Laurie Shrage of Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy. Laurie and I will be editors of Hypatia from July, 1998- June, 2003, with the journal housed at the University of Oregon. I was the editor for the APA Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy from its inception until 1992."

"My campus activist activities are often in response to issues and needs arising at particular historical moments. As a few examples, I have worked to develop more adequate sexual harassment guidelines, lobbied for a women's studies major, participated in efforts to guarantee partner benefits, and worked with administrators to develop family leave policies. I moved to the University of Oregon in 1994 and have been actively cultivating my extended family of friends here in Eugene as well as remaining close to my family friends in other parts of the country. My two children (5 and 8 years old in 1998) are fortunate to have a group of wonderful "aunts" and "uncles" who are a part of their life and mine. Eugene is a marvelous place to live, and the boys and I spend our free time hiking, camping, and enjoying the beauty of Oregon." (Written by Nancy Tuana)

Bibliography

BOOKS

Philosophy of Science Studies, forthcoming

The Less Noble Sex: Scientific, Religious and Philosophical Conceptions of Woman's Nature, Indiana University Press, 1993.

Women and the History of Philosophy, a volume in the Paragon Issues in Philosophy Series, Continuum/Paragon House, 1992.

EDITED BOOKS

enGendering Rationalities, with Sandra Morgen, forthcoming.

Revealing Male Bodies, Indiana University Press, forthcoming.

Returning the Gaze, Indiana University Press, forthcoming.

Feminism and Philosophy: Essential Readings in Theory, Reinterpretation, and Application, co-edited with Rosemarie Tong, Westview Press, 1995.

Feminism and Science, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.

Re-Reading the Canon: Feminist Interpretations of Plato, Penn State Press, 1994.

ARTICLES

Routledge Encyclopedia of Feminist Theories: Commensurability/ Incommensurability; Context of Discovery vs. Context of Justification; Positivism; Science, Philosophy of. Forthcoming

"Fleshing Gender, Sexing the Body: Refiguring the Sex Gender Distinction," Spindel Conference Proceedings, Southern Journal of Philosophy, Volume XXXV, 1996. To be reprinted in Rethinking Sex and Gender, Tina Chanter, ed. Cambridge University Press.

"Re-Valuing Science," in Feminism, Science, and the Philosophy of Science, Ed. Lynn Hankinson Nelson and Jack Nelson, Kluwer, 1996, pp. 17-38.

"Physiology," Science and Technology section of The Women's Studies Encyclopedia, 1996.

"The History of Embryology," in the Encyclopedia of Reproductive Technologies, New York: Garland Publishing, 1996.

"The Values of Science: Empiricism From a Feminist Perspective," Synthese 104, 3 (1995): 1-21.

"Taking Stock: Feminist Philosophy in the Mid-1990s," Metaphilosophy 1995.

"The Presence and Absence of the Feminine in Plato's Philosophy," (with Will Cowling) in Re-Reading the Canon: Feminist Interpretations of Plato, Ed. Nancy Tuana, Penn State Press, 1994.

"Engendering Science: From the Perspective of the Humanities," National Women's Studies Association Journal, 5 (1): 1993: 56-64.

"Aristotle and the Politics of Reproduction," in Critical Feminist Essays on the History of Western Philosophy, Ed. Bat Ami Bar On, SUNY, 1993.

"With Many Voices: Feminism and Theoretical Pluralism," in Theory on Gender/ Feminism on Theory, Ed. Paula England, Aldine, 1993, pp. 281-290.

"Reading Philosophy As A Woman: A Feminist Critique of the History of Philosophy," in Against Patriarchal Thinking, eds. Maja Pellikaan and Hannelore Schröder, Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1992.

"The Radical Future of Feminist Empiricism," Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, Vol. 7, No. 1, 1992, pp. 99-113.

"Plato and Feminism: A Review of the Literatureand Bibliography," (with William Cowling) American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy, Issue 1, 1989, pp. 110-116.

"Feminist Perspectives on Science," American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy, Issue 1, 1988, pp. 20-22.

"Feminism and Philosophy: A Brief Bibliography of Books," American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy, Issue 2, 1988, pp. 21-23.

"Bibliography on Feminism and Science," American Philosophical Association Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy, Issue 1, 1988, pp. 22-23.

"Feminist Perspectives on Science," with Barbara Imber, Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1988, pp. 139-155.

"Sexual Harassment: Offers and Coercion," Journal of Social Philosophy, Vol. XIX, No. 2, 1988. Reprinted in Robert Larmer, Ethics in the Workplace, West Publications, 1995.

"The Weaker Seed: The Sexist Bias of Reproductive Theory," Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1988, pp. 35-39. Translated "Der schwachliche Keim: Sexistische Varurteile In Reproduktionstheorien," in Das Geschlecht der Natur: Feministische Beitrage zur Geschichte und Theorie der Naturwissen-schaften, Eds. Barbara Orland and Elvira Scheich, Suhrkamp Verlag, 1995.

"The Unhappy Marriage of Alchemy and Feminism," Prairie Home Philosophy, Moorhead State University Press, 1987, pp. 110-122.

"The Rationality of Creativity in Science," with Mark Johnson, Essays on Creativity and Science (Honolulu: Hawaii Council of Teachers of English, 1986) pp. 225-235.

"A Response to Purdy," Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1986, pp. 175-178.

"Winning with Logic," in Some Basic Types of Human Reason, George McClure, Kansas City: Kendall-Hunt Pubs., 1986, pp. 71-110.

"Medea: With the Eyes of the Lost Goddess," Soundings, Vol. LXVIII, No. 2, 1985, pp. 253-272.

"Re-Presenting the World: Feminism and the Natural Sciences," Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies Vol. 8, No. 3, 1985, pp. 73-78.

"The Cloak of Demeter: Women's Studies in Disguise," Journal of Thought: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 2, 1985, pp. 218-233.

"Sexual Harassment in Academe: Issues of Power and Coercion," College Teaching, Vol. 33, No. 2, 1985, pp. 53-63.

"Re-fusing Nature/Nurture," Hypatia, published as a special issue of Women's Studies International Forum, Vol. 6, No. 6, 1983, pp. 45-56. Reprinted in Hypatia Reborn: Essays in Feminist Philosophy, ed. Azizah al-Hibri and Margaret Simons. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990.

"Quine's Hidden Premises," The Southern Journal of Philosophy, Vol. XXI, No. 1, 1983, pp. 123-135.

"The Hidden Structure of Quine's Attack on Analyticity," The Southern Journal of Philosophy, Vol. XX, No. 2, 1982, pp. 257-262.

"Taking the Indeterminancy of Translation One Step Further," Philosophical Studies, Vol. 40, 1981, pp. 283-291.

"Quinn on Duhem: An Emendation," Philosophy of Science, 45, 1978, pp. 456-462.

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