What is Objectification?

Author: Papadaki, Lina

Source: Journal of Moral Philosophy, Volume 7, Number 1, 2010 , pp. 16-36(21)

Publisher: BRILL

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Abstract:

Objectification is a notion central to contemporary feminist theory. It has famously been associated with the work of anti-pornography feminists Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin, and more recently with the work of Martha Nussbaum. However, objectification is a notion that has not yet been adequately defined. It has been used rather vaguely to refer to a broad range of cases involving, in some way or another, the treatment of a person (usually a woman) as an object. My purpose in this paper is to offer a plausible understanding of objectification. I do that by focusing on the work of four prominent thinkers: Immanuel Kant, and contemporary feminists Catharine MacKinnon, Andrea Dworkin and Martha Nussbaum. Through drawing on these thinkers' conceptions of objectification, I am finally led to a more complete and coherent understanding of this notion.

Keywords: DWORKIN; FEMINISM; KANT; MACKINNON; NUSSBAUM; OBJECTIFICATION

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/174046809X12544019606067

Affiliations: 1: Birkbeck College, School of Philosophy, Malet Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7HX;, Email: l.papadaki@bbk.ac.uk

Publication date: 2010-01-01