A Feminist Defense of Co-Authorship in Philosophy of Education

• In Event: Toward an Ethics of Relationality

Abstract

Although co-authorship is widely accepted in social scientific research in education, the legacy of single-authorship in philosophy of education persists. This paper provides justification for shifting our intellectual norms to elevate the academic standing of co-authored philosophical research. We draw from core features of feminist theory and epistemology to establish that scholarship production involves epistemic interdependence, the situatedness of knowers and provisionality of knowledge claims, and an epistemic responsibility for one’s claims. We further argue that authorship need not primarily entail ownership of ideas, but taking responsibility for ideas, as both individual and collective authors. This primarily philosophical argument leads to two practical sections: instrumental benefits of co-authorship, followed by strategies for navigating the co-authorship process based on our experiences.

Authors

• Caitlin Murphy Brust, Stanford University
  Presenting Author

• Rebecca M. Taylor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Presenting Author