Young, Iris Marion, 1949–2006, American philosopher and political theorist, b. New York, Ph.D. Penn State University, 1974. An activist-intellectual, Young was a Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and a visiting Professor at G.W. Goethe University. She also served as an interpreter for the United Nations and spoke more than a dozen languages. Before Chicago, Young taught political theory in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. A socialistand a feminist, Young was noted for her substantial contributions to social and political philosophy. She wrote on a variety of topics, including continental political thought, feminist theory, democracy, ethics, normative analysis of public policy, power, and global security. Young engaged with numerous theorists and schools of thought, such as John Rawls, Julia Kristeva, the Frankfurt School, critical theory, and poststructuralism. Her early book, Justice and the Politics of Difference, featured the "five faces of oppression and laid the groundwork for the distinction between "redistribution" and "recognition." Young's scholarship followed two directions, one focusing on political theory and justice, and the other on female embodiment and phenomenology. She died on August 1, 2006.
Young published several books, including, but not limited to, Justice and the Politics of Difference (1990), Throwing Like a Girl: And Other Essays in Feminist Philosophy and Social Theory (1990), Intersecting Voices: Dilemmas of Gender, Political Philosophy, and Policy (1997), Inclusion and Democracy (2002), Global Challenges: War, Self-Determination and Responsibility for Justice (2006), and Responsibility for Justice (2011).
See M. Sardoc, ed., Citizenship, Inclusion and Democracy: A Symposium on Iris Marion Young (2006); A. Ferguson and M. Nagel, eds., Dancing with Iris: The Philosophy of Iris Marion Young (2009); U. M. Vieten, ed., Revisiting Iris Marion Young on Normalisation, Inclusion and Democracy (2014); M. Ferguson and A. Valls, eds., Iris Marion Young: Gender, Justice, and the Politics of Difference (2022).
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