Iris Young obituary
[via JKS, source unspecified]
Iris Marion Young, 1949-2006
Iris Marion Young, a leading philosopher called by a colleague “one
of the most important political philosophers of the past quarter-
century,” died in her home Tuesday, Aug. 1 after a year-and-a-half
long fight with cancer. She was 57.
Young, Professor in Political Science at the University of Chicago
since 2000, was known for her work on theories of justice, democratic
theory and feminist theory.
“When Iris came to the University she had already established herself
as one of the most important feminist thinkers in the world,” said
Associate Professor Patchen Markell, a colleague of Young’s in the
University of Chicago’s Political Science department. “She was
absolutely unsurpassed in her ability to combine a very high level of
philosophical analysis with relevance to contemporary political
issues, and to the experiences of women and men who cared about
social injustice.”
Young was born January 2, 1949 in New York City. She studied
philosophy as an undergraduate at Queens College, where she graduated
with honors in 1970, before she went on to earn her masters and
doctorate in philosophy in 1974 from Pennsylvania State University.
Early on, Young built a reputation for her teaching and writing on
global justice; democracy and difference; continental political
theory; ethics and international affairs; and gender, race and public
policy. But it was her 1990 book Justice and the Politics of
Difference that propelled her to the international stage. It was in
that text, a staple in classrooms the world over, that Young
critically analyzed the basic concepts underlying most theories of
justice, argued for a new conception of justice and urged for the
affirmation rather than the suppression of social group difference.
More recently she had been working on the issue of political
responsibility, and especially on the question of how to conceive of
responsibility for large-scale structural injustices that can’t
easily be traced back to the doings of any single person or group.
“There is no question in my mind that she is one of the most
important political philosophers of the past quarter-century,” said
Cass Sunstein, the Karl N. Llewellyn Distinguished Service Professor
at the University of Chicago’s Law School and in Political Science.
“She was unexcelled in the world in feminist and leftist political
thought, and her work will have an enduring impact.”
Known for her fierce commitment to social justice and her grassroots
political activity on causes such as women’s human rights, debt
relief for Africa and workers’ rights, Young was praised for being as
comfortable working at the street level as she was writing about
political theorists Michel Foucault and Jürgen Habermas.
“She combined a mind that went for the jugular with a passionate
commitment to social justice, and the combination produced an
absolutely magnificent colleague and an absolutely magnificent
political philosopher,” said Jane Mansbridge, Adams Professor at
Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. “She was a
committed, decent human being and that informed every aspect of her
work.”
The ease with which Young moved back and forth between academia and
her political work made her particularly attractive to the
international community, her colleagues said. Young was constantly
traveling and her writings have been translated into more than 20
languages, including Croatian, Japanese, German, Italian, Portuguese,
Slovakian, Spanish and Swedish. She served as a fellow or visiting
professor in Vienna, Australia, South Africa, Germany and New
Zealand, and she lectured on every continent but Antarctica.
“Her great lucidity and whole-hearted commitment to equality made her
a resource for political theorists coming out of all the world’s
diverse political contexts,” said Danielle Allen, Dean of the
Humanities at the University of Chicago, who first read Young’s work
when she was a student at Harvard University.
“I marveled at the precision with which she identified the concepts
of political practice and questions of justice, and even though I
didn’t always agree with her, I knew she always identified the
questions that needed to be asked and clarified the terms of
engagement,” Allen said. “As I came to know her as a colleague, she
clarified my thinking and challenged me constantly. I think I can
speak for everyone who knew her when I say I learned a tremendous
amount from her. She was a master teacher.”
Young was a popular teacher both of graduate and undergraduate
students. Her class on global justice was among the most sought-after
courses offered in Political Science.
“So many people wanted to take the course that it would be in a
lecture hall, but she didn’t want to stand in the front of the room
and spout information — she wanted students to be able to have a
conversation,” said Markell, a professor in the department. “She was
so popular that she was always outgrowing the format she most enjoyed
teaching in. Everyone wanted to study with her.”
Young’s popularity was just as sure among her colleagues, who loved
engaging in debate with her as much as they enjoyed watching her play
jazz piano at the University’s faculty club, the Quadrangle Club.
“It never ceased to amaze me how someone of such immense scholarly
stature and distinction could be so unfailingly generous with her
students and so completely egalitarian with her colleagues,” said
Sunstein.
Added John Mearsheimer, the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service
Professor in Political Science at the University of Chicago, “she was
one of the main intellectual forces in the department. Both students
and faculty held her in the highest regard. Her passing leaves a
gaping hole that will be very hard to fill.”
Young’s books include Intersecting Voices: Dilemmas of Gender,
Political Philosophy and Policy (1997); Inclusion and Democracy
(2000); and On Female Body Experience (2004). Before coming to the
University of Chicago she taught political theory for nine years in
the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the
University of Pittsburgh. She also taught philosophy at a number of
institutions, among them the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and
Miami University.
Young is survived by her husband of 34 years, David Alexander,
daughter Morgen Alexander- Young, brother L. James Young and sister
Jacqueline Young. A fall memorial service is planned at the
University of Chicago.