The Woman of Reason: Feminism, Humanism and Political Thought

ISBN-13: 9780745614496 / Angielski / Miękka / 1995 / 224 str.

Karen Green

Opis

This is a timely re-appraisal of feminist political thinkers and their male contemporaries, providing a re-evaluation of feminist humanism.

Recenzje

′ The Woman of Reason is an imaginative and compelling commentary on the origins and role of feminism in contributing to a more egalitarian and caring world. This clear–headed, humane and controversial book deserves consideration and discussion by everyone concerned with the ways in which forms of knowledge can contribute to the oppression or the liberation of people, women in particular.′
UCG Women′s Studies Centre Review

′The insistence on women′s history and their participation in the construction of culture and society is a welcome antidote to accounts of universal oppression.′ Women′s Philosophy Review

′The book stands as a provocative contribution to liberal feminist political theory, which is likely to generate ongoing debate.′ Australasian Journal of Philosophy

Spis treści

Acknowledgements.

Introduction.

1. Against Feminist Anti–Humanism.

2. Women of Virtue.

3. Hobbes, Amazons and Sabine Women.

4. Virtuous Women and the Citizen of Geneva.

5. The Female Citizen.

6. Socialism, Sex and Savage Society.

7. Flight from the Other.

8. Reason, Femininity, Love and Morality.

Index.

O autorze

Karen Green is a lecturer in Philosophy at Monash University, Australia.

Blurb

This important and timely book challenges the direction taken by much recent work in the field of feminist studies. It mounts a powerful defence of humanism – a tradition of which many contemporary feminists have been sharply critical.

Many feminists have viewed ′reason′ and ′rationality′ with deep suspicion. They have argued that reason was constructed by male philosophers in a way that excluded feminine traits: the man of reason was a masculine fiction.

But this rejection of humanism assumes that there is only one tradition of humanism and only one conception of the rational individual. By carefully re–examining the texts of a feminist humanist tradition, Karen Green uncovers a different conception of the rational individual – a ′female version of rationality′. She captures the specificity of women′s thought through a careful examination of their writings and their differences from the work of their male contemporaries.

On this basis, Green argues that we need to reconceptualize both rationality and liberalism. Maintaining the ideal of rationality is quite compatible with understanding ourselves as embodied, emotional creatures whose sense of self is made up of a mixture of reason and feeling. Feminist humanism can provide a firm basis for political action and a compelling defence of equal political representation for women and men.