Carol Hay is a contemporary feminist philosopher at the University of Massachusetts Lowell whose work centers on oppression, self-respect, and feminist ethics. She is best known for applying Kantian moral theory to feminist concerns, arguing that self-respect is a moral duty incumbent upon oppressed persons. Her scholarship bridges analytic ethics, political philosophy, and feminist standpoint theory.
Developed a Kantian argument that oppressed persons have a moral duty of self-respect in resisting their own oppression
Authored Kantianism, Liberalism, and Feminism: Resisting Oppression (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)
Authored Think Like a Feminist: The Philosophy Behind the Movement (W.W. Norton, 2020), a widely read public philosophy text
Advanced feminist standpoint epistemology, arguing that lived experience shapes epistemic access to gendered harm
Contributed to debates on moral responsibility under conditions of structural oppression
Heterosexual men cannot imagine how a female rape victim feels.