Sally J. Scholz (born 1968) is an American Professor of Philosophy at

Villanova University Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Saint Thom ...

and former editor of '' Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy''. Her research focuses on

social philosophy Social philosophy is the study and interpretation of society and social institutions in terms of ethical values rather than empirical relations. Social philosophers emphasize understanding the social contexts for political, legal, moral and cultur ...

political philosophy Political philosophy studies the theoretical and conceptual foundations of politics. It examines the nature, scope, and Political legitimacy, legitimacy of political institutions, such as State (polity), states. This field investigates different ...

, and

feminist theory Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or Philosophy, philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's Gender role, social roles, experiences, intere ...

. Her early work involves issues of violence against women,

oppression Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment of, or exercise of power over, a group of individuals, often in the form of governmental authority. Oppression may be overt or covert, depending on how it is practiced. No universally accepted model ...

and peacemaking, and then progresses to ethics of advocacy and violence against women in conflict settings, including

war rape Wartime sexual violence is rape or other forms of sexual violence committed by combatants during an armed conflict, war, or military occupation often as spoils of war, but sometimes, particularly in ethnic conflict, the phenomenon has b ...

and

just war theory The just war theory () is a doctrine, also referred to as a tradition, of military ethics that aims to ensure that a war is morally justifiable through a series of #Criteria, criteria, all of which must be met for a war to be considered just. I ...

. Her recent research involves these issues in addition to solidarity. She has published four single-author books and edited three academic journals, among many other publications.

Education and career

Scholz received her Bachelor of Arts degree from

University of Portland The University of Portland (UP) is a private Catholic university in Portland, Oregon, United States. It was founded in 1901 and is affiliated with the Congregation of Holy Cross, which also founded UP's sister school, the University of Notre Da ...

in 1989, with a double major in Philosophy and Theology and a minor in French. She received her Master of Arts in philosophy in 1991 and her Ph.D. in philosophy in 1993, both from

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

. Scholz worked as a legal advocate for victims of domestic violence during her time in Indiana. She served as an assistant professor at Villanova after she received her Ph.D., and then served as a visiting scholar at

Chiang Mai University Chiang Mai University (CMU; ) is a national public research university in northern Thailand founded in 1964. It has a strong emphasis on engineering, science, agriculture, and medicine. Its instructional mission includes undergraduate, graduate, ...

and

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

from 1997 to 1998. She was promoted to associate professor at Villanova in 2001, becoming professor in 2006. She served as the Faculty in Residence in the Center for Peace and Justice Education from 2005 to 2010. She is currently a member of the

American Philosophical Association The American Philosophical Association (APA) is the main professional organization for philosophers in the United States. Founded in 1900, its mission is to promote the exchange of ideas among philosophers, to encourage creative and scholarl ...

(APA) Board as Chair of the Committee of Lectures, Publications and Research and serves as vice president of the North American Society for Social Philosophy.

Research areas

Scholz's research specializes in

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

and feminist theory. Her work is influenced by

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...

and

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...

. Her other early work involves issues of violence against women, oppression and peacemaking, with many essays focusing on war rape and just war theory. Her later work addresses these issues along with

solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

, as explored in her book ''Political Solidarity'' (2008). Her work on solidarity involves research on collective movements for social change and global and transnational feminist accounts of solidarity.

Publications

Scholz served as Editor of ''APA Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy'' from 2003 to 2008 and Co-editor for the ''Journal for Peace and Justice Studies'' from 2006 to 2011. She is the former Editor of ''Hypatia'', resigning in protest in 2017 due to the ''Hypatia'' transracialism controversy that took place under her stewardship. She has published four single-author books: ''On de Beauvoir'' (2000), ''On Rousseau'' (2001), ''Political Solidarity'' (2008) and ''Feminism: A Beginner's Guide'' (2010). She co-edited ''Peacemaking: Lessons from the Past, Visions for the Future'' (2000) with Judith Presler and ''The Contradictions of Freedom: Philosophical Essays on Simone de Beauvoir's Les Mandarins'' (2005) with Shannon M. Mussett. She has published 20 peer-reviewed journal articles, 10 anthology contributions and 20 book reviews. She also contributed articles to the ''Encyclopedia of Global Justice'' (2011), edited by Deen Chatterjee.

''Political Solidarity''

In ''Political Solidarity'', Scholz argues for greater nuance in the meaning of solidarity and highlights three distinct types of solidarity: social solidarity, civic solidarity, and political solidarity. She finds all three types of solidarity importantly distinct, although they do have some unifying characteristics. Scholz goes to great efforts to avoid vagueness when discussing concepts, providing concrete articulations of concepts like 'injustice' and 'oppression,' rather than resorting to vague or demagogic treatments of such concepts. Scholz notes that effective political solidarity can only occur through a "genuine mutually shared commitment to a cause." Scholz argues that political solidarity is a moral relation among humans; political solidarity with non-human animals, then, is not possible but political solidarity on behalf of nonhuman animals is. Some ecofeminists have challenged her on this point, seeking to conceptualize solidarity with non-humans. Scholz has suggested that a more fruitful approach is to think of the moral relations of social solidarity with non-human animals.

References

External links

Sally Scholz on PhilPapers
* ''Hypatia'' transracialism controversy {{DEFAULTSORT:Scholz, Sally 1968 births Living people Scholars of feminist philosophy Villanova University faculty Purdue University alumni American women philosophers 20th-century American philosophers 21st-century American philosophers American social philosophers American political philosophers University of Portland alumni 20th-century American women 21st-century American women