Jane Addams: biography of this American philosopher

Jane Addams (1860-1935) was an American reformer, philosopher, and activist who co-founded the first social residence in the United States United, the Hull-House, dedicated to working in favor of the immigrant population as well as in different educational and social policies. She was also the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 and the country's first public philosopher.

Furthermore, she belonged to the first generation of upper-middle-class women to have access to higher education; an experience that led her to problematize the tensions experienced by women between social and family demands; and her own professional desires. Next we will see a brief biography of Jane Addams.

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Jane Addams: Biography of a Social Reformer

Jane Addams was born on September 6, 1860. She is the daughter of Sarah Weber and John Huy Addams, a Republican politician and American businessman. She was the youngest of five children and was raised at the dawn of the civil war, in a small town in northern Illinois. Her mother died when Jane was just two years old, while her father served, as hand of Abraham Lincoln, as a state senator of the Republican party in the second half of the century XIX.

Based on the influences of her social and family environment, Jane Addams she was formed among values ​​and principles such as community responsibility, human rights and the civilizing bond of Christian ethics and the arts.

She herself was part of the first generation of women who had access to a high level education, at the Rockford Female Seminary, from 1877 to 1881. In fact, she was the first student to receive an official degree from said university.

It was a social context that opened schools for women, which responded in part to her need to autonomy and professional development, although in the end she did not offer many possibilities for the exercise public. At the same time, Jane Addams lived in a family context where her youngest daughter was expected to take care of the home.

Like other women who lived in similar environments, Jane Addams faced various discomforts psychic and somatic for years, which among other things led him to develop her philosophy and her her activism. She especially worked hand in hand with Ellen Gates Starr, who had also studied at Rockford and shared her interest in strengthening community and social support. Furthermore, she well understood the stress women faced. The result of the latter was the creation of the first social and progressive residence in the United States: the Hull-House.

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The family imperative

In the midst of strong domestic demands on women, Jane Addams found herself in a tension between pursuing her desire to reform social support in public; and social approval, whose demands went in the opposite direction.

After having had to give up her professional projects, and from the conflicts that this generated, both she and other women of the same time underwent the "rest cure" that Dr. Weir Mitchell prescribed, and that consisted of spending time tied up in bed. Later, Addams herself would explain that she found herself in a paralyzing situation between what she called "the family imperative", centered on the cult of the domestic; and the yearning for an autonomous life dedicated to social activism (García Dauder, 2005).

Jane Addams's cure did not come so much from rest but later, when she ended up making some resignations in the domestic sphere and founding, together with Ellen Gate Starr, Hull House. He devoted himself to writing and developing a philosophical line related to social progress, the emancipation of women, diversity, the ethics of care and actions for peace.

The Hull House: a “squatter house”?

The Hull House was so named because it was installed in a residence located in a working-class immigrant district of Chicago. This residence was free and had been built by Charles Hull in 1856.

They moved to it in 1889 and it grew gradually, coming to have several buildings that offered a nursery, gym, kitchen community, meeting spaces for working girls, and occupational and training workshops, as well as different playgrounds games. All this available to the population of the neighborhood, the majority of whom are immigrants.. It was also an important meeting point for different workers and social reformers of the time, who came to live in the same center and collaborate with her tasks.

Political impact and social recognition

The Addams Jobs influenced laws on working conditions for women and children, the inspection of factories, and the demands for justice for women, the black population and the immigrant population. In 1910 Addams was the first woman president of the National Conference of Social Work; in 1915 she was the president of the International Women's Congress in The Hague, and in 1931 she was the first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Today the Hull-House has been converted into a museum dedicated to Jane Addams and the women who worked together for education and social development.

Theoretical and philosophical development of Jane Addams

Jane Addams worked to ensure that her theoretical development did not stray from the reality that she lived. And vice versa, she wanted the implications of her activism to have reality on a theoretical level. So the works of Jane Addams are full of examples of her experiences at Hull House, and she tackles unusual themes. ranging from folklore stories of the immigrant population and prostitution, to garbage collection (Hamington, 2018).

Drawing on her work at Hull House, as well as her personal experience, Addams's theoretical perspective develops an ethic of care that is not limited to the parent-child relationship, but it extends towards the notion of community and towards social development. As a result of her academic activity, Addams published a dozen books and more than 500 articles in which it also problematizes in an important way the North American pragmatic tradition, in which it had originally been formed.

Bibliographic references:

• Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2018). Jane Addams. American Social Reformer. Retrieved July 4, 2018. Available in https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jane-Addams.
• Hamington, M. (2018). Jane Addams. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved July 3, 2018. Available in https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/addams-jane/.
• Garcia Dauder, S. (2005). Psychology and Feminism. Forgotten history of pioneering women in psychology. Narcea: Madrid.
• Bissel, V. (2000). Addams, Jane. American National Biography. Retrieved July 3, 2018. Available in http://www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-1500004.