ABSTRACT
Feminist theorists have articulated, elaborated, and defended the view that the self is essentially relational in a variety of new ways in several philosophical subfields. While much feminist writing about the relational self has come in response to the individualism of the liberal political ideal of autonomy, different theories of the relational self have been developed for different philosophical purposes. Women and people of color have, historically, not been the ones doing the philosophizing and have been either left out or viewed as "other" and devalued to the extent people were seen as deviating from the norm. In ethics, as well as in social, political, and legal philosophy, the relational self has been defended as an alternative to what Lorraine Code has dubbed "autonomous man" who "is the undoubted hero of philosophical moral and political discourse". Traditional philosophy of mind has presupposed an individualistic view of the self.
