[SydPhil] Macquarie University Visiting Scholar Seminar on Feminist Solidarity by A/Prof Jacklyn Cleofas (4 December)

[Danna Patricia Aduna]

Dear colleagues,

You are warmly invited to a seminar presentation by A/Prof Jacklyn A. Cleofas, visiting scholar to the Macquarie University Ethics and Agency Research Centre and the Discipline of Philosophy, from the University of the Philippines Los Baños. She will be presenting work-in-progress from her current research.


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When: Thursday, 4 December 2025, 2–3:30pm
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Where: Macquarie University (unceded Dharug land) and Zoom

Please register at the link below to receive the in-person venue/Zoom link:
Macquarie Visiting Scholar Seminar on Feminist Solidarity by A/Prof Jacklyn Cleofas – Fill out form<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/dBmMCNLJyQUPXRv0msmfyCybsdc?domain=forms.cloud.microsoft>

Kapwâ, Katarúngan, and Feminist Solidarity in Philosophical Communities
A/Prof Jacklyn A. Cleofas

Abstract
While existing scholarship on the status of women and minorities in philosophy has focused on policy reforms initiated by professional organizations, pedagogical improvements in graduate programs, and empirical investigations of phenomena such as implicit bias and stereotype threat, virtually no work has adopted an advocacy-oriented, theoretically informed approach grounded in feminist solidarity conceptions of justice. My paper addresses this gap by proposing a virtue-theoretic application of such a conception; this proposal is specifically designed to target the resilience of oppressive and exclusionary status quos that are implicated in the persistence of epistemic injustice in philosophical communities. I argue that justice-seeking action in these communities requires the cultivation of a disposition to reduce and remove disproportionate capability deficits in ways that promote solidarity. By disproportionate capability deficits, I mean shortfalls in well-being freedom that are incompatible with the promotion of equal human dignity. My deployment of the capabilities approach (CA) is methodologically significant as it allows for the conceptualization of the predicament of women and minorities in philosophy as a gap between functionings and capabilities. Because such a gap can be measured and targeted, the success of interventions could also be adequately assessed. The element of solidarity in my account draws centrally on two concepts from Filipino philosophy: kapwâ (fellow being) and katarúngan (commonly translated as justice). This understanding of solidarity aligns seamlessly with feminist ideas on social transformation articulated by Ann Ferguson and bell hooks, two thinkers who are closely associated with feminist solidarity conceptions of justice.

About the speaker
Jacklyn A. Cleofas, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Department of Humanities of the University of the Philippines Los Baños. Her philosophical interests are wide-ranging, as evidenced by her recent and forthcoming publications on Filipino philosophy, feminist theology, virtue theory, comparative philosophy, and feminist social epistemology. She is committed to bridging the gap between theory and practice through advocacy and community engagement. This commitment is embodied in her involvement in Time’s Up Ateneo and Women Doing Philosophy (Philippines).

For any queries about this event, please contact danna.aduna at mq.edu.au or katrina.hutchison at mq.edu.au.

We look forward to seeing you there!