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"More broadly: for years now I’ve been fretting about how feminist philosophy can make itself pertinent in the real world. I’m dead set against philosophers’ making pronouncements about how people should and shouldn’t live their lives. We shouldn’t be in the business of telling people whether the human race ought to condone cloning or eat meat or banish pornography.


What we ought to aspire to do, I think, is interest people in the project of continually reflecting on their settled views on such subjects.


(Any good philosopher knows from personal experience that reflection often reveals that one’s own views are horribly muddled or arrogant or self-contradictory.)


But it’s a whole lot more fun to watch TV or surf the net or go to a bar than it is to engage in serious self-reflection. So for anyone who believes that self-reflection is critical to our ability to make wise decisions, exhibit genuine empathy, or care for ourselves at the deepest level, the challenge is to figure out the best, most honest way to try to attract people to the enterprise."

--Nancy Bauer

Bauer's editorial on Lady Gaga and feminism:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/lady-power/

Interview:
http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2010/07/is-lady-gaga-a-feminist-5-questions-for-philosopher-nancy-bauer/