This author delves into profound questions of ethics, politics, and metaphysics. Her work often examines the historical underpinnings of philosophical thought, with an approach deeply informed by feminist philosophy. Her insights into the nature of morality and society are penetrating and thought-provoking.
This book explores the complex relationship between pornography and the objectification of women, presenting a critical feminist perspective. Rae Langton argues that pornography not only subordinates women but also silences them, reinforcing harmful societal norms. Through her analysis, she asserts that women possess rights against the harms of pornography, challenging readers to reconsider the implications of these media representations on women's status and autonomy.
Rae Langton presents a fresh interpretation of Kant's doctrine of "things in themselves," distinguishing between intrinsic and relational properties of substances. She argues that Kant's assertion of our ignorance regarding these intrinsic properties is a form of epistemic humility rather than idealism. This perspective not only defends Kant's scientific realism but also positions his distinction between primary and secondary qualities as more robust than contemporary theories. Langton effectively addresses the critique that Kant's concept is inherently untellable, offering clarity to his philosophical stance.
Rae Langton offers a new interpretation and defence of Kant's doctrine of things in themselves. Kant distinguishes things in themselves from phenomena, and in so doing he makes a metaphysical distinction between intrinsic and relational properties of substances. Kant says that phenomena--things as we know them--consist 'entirely of relations', by which he means forces. His claim that we have no knowledge of things in themselves is not idealism, but epistemic humility: we have no knowledge of the intrinsic properties of substances. This humility has its roots in some plausible philosophical beliefs: an empiricist belief in the receptivity of human knowledge and a metaphysical belief in the irreducibility of relational properties. Langton's interpretation vindicates Kant's scientific realism, and shows his primary/secondary quality distinction to be superior even to modern-day competitors. And it answers the famous charge that Kant's tale of things in themselves is one that makes itself untellable.