Ann Ferguson and Mechthild Nagel (eds.), Dancing with Iris: The Philosophy of Iris Marion Young (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), x + 268 pp. Iris Marion Young (1949-2006) taught at Worcester Polytechnic, Miami University, the University of Pittsburgh, and was Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. She was an activist for social justice, a practice that informs all of her work. That work includes major contributions in the areas of feminist phenomenology, political philosophy, and ethics. Young was influenced by many important figures in European philosophy, such as Beauvoir, Merleau-Ponty, Marx, Derrida, Irigaray, Arendt, Sartre, and Foucault, and at the same time engaged with the broad-ranging scholarship in the fields she worked in. Many of Young's papers are standout, remarkable, and influential pieces-"Throwing like a Girl" (also one of the best titles), "Women Recovering our Clothes," "Gender as Seriality," "House and Home," to name a few; likewise her books Justice and the Politics of Difference (1990), Inclusion and Democracy (2000), and Intersecting Voices (1997). As Carol C. Gould says in her paper in this book, in a memorable phrase that pinpoints what is special about it, Young's "work displayed an unusual philosophical daring" (199). This daring is seen in all aspects of her writing, in the choice of topics, in the method and argument.
