Flipping the script: The importance of course design for teaching a more inclusive history of philosophy

The aim of this paper is to draw attention to the importance of course design when teaching a more inclusive history of philosophy. By answering two crucial questions, recently posed by Nancy Kendrick and Jessica Gordon-Roth, I intend to present a proven practice approach to how exactly one can successfully include women’s work into one’s teaching. These questions, which also inspired the paper’s title, are: “What pitfalls should we work to avoid? And when might it be necessary to flip the script?” (“Visible and Invisible”, 42). In answer to the former question I discuss three pitfalls for course design: Charlotte Witt’s ‘Handmaiden Issue’, Sarah Hutton’s ‘New Amnesia’, and Mary Ellen Waithe’s ‘Ghettoization Problem’. With respect to the latter question my answer is that flipping the script is, at the very least, a promising strategy when designing a course, because it allows the historically marginalized voice to set the tone as they become the starting point of any class. This way, instructors can then integrate women philosophers in their teaching such that it leads to their epistemic inclusion.