[3] She received the Grinnell College Harris Fellowship in 1993 to conduct research on male and female ego development.
She discussed how Habermas' emphasis on the intersubjective formation of subjectivity and the rational nature of normative claims is valuable for feminist theory but highlighted the need for feminists to challenge his reduction of subjectivity to language and rationality and to maintain distinctions between morality and legality.
She argued that Jürgen Habermas focuses on children's cognitive progression from conventional to post-conventional morality through discursive justifications while overlooking the profound impact of intersubjective identity formation, highlighting the significance of power dynamics in shaping norms and moral reasoning.
[11] Meehan emphasized the potential of Amy Allen's work in The Politics of Our Selves, in bridging the gap between Habermas' normative insights and Foucault's psychoanalytic discourse on the impact of power on subject formation.
[12] She contended that despite Arendt's aversion to psychology, her political theories resonate with Jessica Benjamin's psychoanalytic perspective,[13] offering a nuanced understanding of the self that transcends postmodern deconstruction and liberal subjectivity.
[14] In addition, she argued that, for justice and liberation, postmodern emphasis on difference must evolve into a Hegelian solidarity, criticizing Derrida, Iris Marion Young, and Linda Nicholson while advocating for a reconstituted concept of human nature grounded in enduring solidarity for the united struggle.