Jean Curthoys (born 1947) is an Australian

feminist philosopher Feminist philosophy is an approach to philosophy from a feminist perspective and also the employment of philosophical methods to feminist topics and questions. Feminist philosophy involves both reinterpreting philosophical texts and methods in ...

. She was born in Broken Hill, New South Wales, the daughter of Geoffrey and Barbara Curthoys, leading members of the

Communist Party of Australia The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian political parties, Australian political party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membersh ...

. Her sister

Ann Curthoys Ann Curthoys, (born 5 September 1945) is an Australian historian and academic. Early life and education Curthoys was born in Sydney, New South Wales, on 5 September 1945, and completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Sydney. In 1 ...

is an academic historian. After studying science and philosophy at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

, she helped teach the first feminist philosophy course in Sydney in 1973. Her 1997 book,
Feminist Amnesia
', accuses later academic feminist theory of abandoning the liberation theory of the 1960s for an intellectually and morally sterile careerism. She is a contributor to ''Goodbye to All That? On the Failure of Neo-liberalism and the Urgency of Change'', ed. D. McKnight and R. Manne (Black Inc, 2010). She saw through the press and wrote an introduction to Vic Dudman's work on the priority of grammar over logic, ''Victor Dudman's Grammar and Semantics'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). She was married to philosopher Alan Olding and later to photographer and historian John Williams.John Williams 1933-2016
''Sydney Morning Herald'' 19 Aug 2016

References

External links

Australian Screen brief video clip on her educational expectations

National Film and Sound Archive recollection of seeing feminist speaker abused
* J. Franklin, (2003), ''Corrupting the Youth: A History of Philosophy in Australia'', Macleay Press
ch. 14
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curthoys, Jean 1947 births University of Sydney alumni University of Sydney faculty People from Newcastle, New South Wales Australian women philosophers Australian philosophers Feminist philosophers Living people