GreenwellHall, A (2026) The philosophical practice of the community of inquiry: a feminist transitionalist account. PhD thesis, Bath Spa University. doi: 10.17870/bathspa.00017950
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Abstract
This thesis explores the philosophical practice of the community of inquiry (PPCoI) using a feminist transitionalist frame. It reveals some traditional power structures that tacitly curate philosophy and philosophical practice within a masculinised domain. It uncovers shadows of traditional power, that when exposed, indicate inferences of outdated sexed exclusions, that are relevant to all persons minoritised as Other. In community of inquiry practice, a tacit power imbalance is most obvious when the practice is evaluated using empirical methods that exclude reference to the persons present as situated thinkers. When reference to practice is thereby minimised, dialogue is diminished by an analysis of transcribed, philosophical argumentation and judgement. This omission causes a distortional under-valuing of the practice means in relation with traditional philosophical ends. My feminist transitionalist frame presents persons in the community as situated, embodied, thinking selves, engaging in the temporal practice of philosophical reconstruction, where the historicist determinate contents mark this dialogic flow. In this practice, persons thinking together develop and refine their warrants, expanding their understanding through being attentive to alternative arguments. During shared thinking, persons may reveal them-selves as capable of development: as transitioning selves. My transitionalist frame highlights meliorism as a directional pull towards truer or better, edifying judgement. It confronts traditional academic delineations of epistemic from axiological endeavour and proposes that feminist edifying practice requires a porosity between these categories. It embraces the relational realm of thinking-together in philosophical inquiry, and its ways of being with others that are ontologically significant, and that contribute to making the practice more inclusive. The originality of this study rests in its unique frame, the exposure of tacit structures of power that influence conventional communities of inquiry and their evaluation, and in acknowledging the importance of the means of persons thinking-together; edifying practice in the onto-relational realm of PPCoI.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | philosophy, philosophical practice, community of inquiry, power structures, power imbalance, feminist critique, transitionalist framing, meliorism |
| Divisions: | School of Education and Humanities |
| Date Deposited: | 28 Sep 2026 15:40 |
| Last Modified: | 28 Sep 2026 15:47 |
| URN: | https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/17950 |
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