Adversarial Styles and Adversity: A Meta-Philosophical Feminist Analysis of the Relation between Practice and Content.

This research shows that although gender distribution in Philosophy is roughly even at undergraduate level, this drops to around 12% women at PhD level. The primary aim of this research is to investigate this attrition and why women leave philosophy, particularly following their undergraduate (UG) degrees. It will investigate the relationship between the dialectical style of philosophy, the impact this style has on the content of philosophical claims - especially those which are deemed valuable or valid - and how these factors in turn may impact upon women's attrition from the discipline. This research will be comprised of both philosophical investigation as well as empirical data collection via a series of interviews with undergraduate and postgraduate students from a wide range of Universities.