Claudia Card (1940-2015) (Updated)
Claudia Card, Emma Goldman Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has died. Professor Card received her undergraduate degree in philosophy at Wisconsin, and joined the faculty there after getting her PhD at Harvard in 1969. She wrote on a wide range of topics in ethics and social philosophy, and is especially well-known for her work in feminist philosophy. She died from cancer yesterday.
You can read more about her at her faculty page and at Wikipedia. I will post links to obituaries and memorial notices as they appear (please email them to me or link to them in the comments).
Claudia Card
UPDATE (9/17/15): The Philosophy Department at Wisconsin announces: “A Celebration of Life will take place Sunday, Oct. 11 from 1:00 – 4:00 pm at the Pyle Center Alumni Lounge located on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.” Additionally, The Philosopher’s Eye has collected and made freely available a number of Professor Card’s articles.
https://feministphilosophers.wordpress.com/2015/09/13/claudia-card-1940-2015/
It’s funny, just the other day I was criticizing a comment I read on Daily Nous by someone who pointedly said they have no respect for feminist philosophy. Then today, I was writing the notice for Claudia, and realized, I know what she’d like to be remembered for! It was rather a pleasure to excerpt her writing with attention to oppression and misogyny.
Claudia’s Contemporary Moral Issues was my favorite undergraduate class at UW-Madison. Sad to hear of her passing. Amazing teacher.
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I’m very sorry to read about Professor Card’s death.
She did groundbreaking work in feminist and social philosophy, and she was always an independent and interesting voice. She tackled many issues of popular concern, but never compromised her rigor and thoughtfulness.
I didn’t know her well, but she was a lively and spirited interlocutor in our encounters (with a great sense of style). Philosophy will be a less interesting field without her presence.
I much admired Claudia’s work and invited here to do several reviews for the journal Teaching Philosophy. She was not often indulgent of views she thought wrong headed. Her book Lesbian Choices deserves more attention in the nature/nurture debate.
Thank you, Claudia.
Arnold Wilson
In my first year as a TA at UW-Madison in Mark Singer’s “Intro to Ethics” course, Claudia was a student. I graded all exams and had laboriously made a check list for all the important points that should be covered. When I came upon Claudia’s essay I was simply blown away. So thereafter (I’m only a little embarrassed to say) I didn’t bother with my own check list: instead, I found Claudia’s ‘blue book’, and then used it, as she covered all the points with clarity, accuracy, and grace. I last saw her a few years ago at a conference in Oxford, where her paper was powerfully and elegantly argued, as always. I am deeply saddened to learn of her death.
This is very sad news. Claudia was my post-doc supervisor 2005-2007. She was very generous with her wisdom and time, and helped me immensely with my career. She was a wonderful philosopher and person. I will miss her.
The Society for Analytic Feminism has organized two sessions in honor of Claudia Card at upcoming APA meetings:
Eastern (January 2016) division meeting, Washington D.C.
3 hr session, Title: The Feminist Philosophy of Claudia Card
Chair: Robin S. Dillon (Lehigh University)
Speakers:
Mavis Biss (Loyola University Maryland)
Victoria Davion (University of Georgia)
Kathryn J. Norlock (Trent University)
Central (March 2016) division meeting, Chicago
3 hr session (Title TBA)
Chair: Kathryn J. Norlock (Trent University)
Speakers:
Diana Meyers (University of Connecticut)
Alison Jaggar (University of Colorado-Boulder)
Lynne Tirrell (University of Massachusetts-Boston)
Wonderful to see this attention to Claudia’s work. But no men? Please know that Claudia spoke to and was well heard by not just the choir.
( In her book Lesbian Choices, she strongly challenged much of the gay rhetoric on nature/nurture.)
Hello, Arnie. Sorry to neglect this, but wanted you to know that the line-up was reviewed and approved by Claudia before she died. Discussing her sessions with her was part of her process of discussing her death. Bravely done on her part.
Claudia was my prof in The Philosophy of Crime and Punishment in the 90s. I am so sad – I wrote an art gallery review using a lot of the ideas we discussed in the class (I still remember so many ideas and discussions – I could cry thinking she is gone) . So I dedicate this gallery review to Claudia – I’ll work harder to bring more mercy and less retribution into the world. I am so saddened.
http://wsimag.com/art/18597-hatched-in-prison