The philosopher is regarded as academic superstar by some, controversial activist by others. "Butler’s influence extends well beyond academia", says Amund Rake Hoffart.
The French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir’s analysis of the oppression of women may be applied to explain oppression of elderly people today, says Tove Pettersen.
Whatever you find when you google depends on the people who have developed the algorithms. American researcher fears enhanced sexism and racism unless the IT sector begins to promote diversity.
When Simone de Beauvoir’s feminist classic The Second Sex was published in Norway in 1970, both sexuality and existentialism were downplayed. “She was made popular,” says Ida Hove Solberg, who has examined the Norwegian translations of de Beauvoir’s work.
Why is killing one’s enemies regarded as more important than raising children? This question was posed by the philosopher “Sophia” as early as the 1700s. “Feminist philosophy didn’t emerge in the 1960s. Questions like these have a long-standing tradition in the field,” says philosopher Tove Pettersen of the University of Oslo.
According to Professor of Literature Toril Moi, feminist theory has become so abstract that it no longer says anything about ordinary women’s lives. Concepts like intersectionality have become so overtheoretical that they no longer apply to people’s actual experiences.
