Feminist Interpretations of Mary Astell (Re-reading the Canon)

Sowaal, Alice (EDT)/ Weiss, Penny A. (EDT)

Pennsylvania State University Press（2016/06発売）

• 製本 Paperback:紙装版/ペーパーバック版／ページ数 248 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9780271071251
• DDC分類 305.4201

Full Description

Often referred to as a proto-feminist, early modern English philosopher and rhetorician Mary Astell was a pious supporter of monarchy who wrote about gender equality at a time when society tightly constrained female agency. This diverse collection of essays situates her ideas in feminist, historical, and philosophical contexts.

Focusing on Astell's work and thought, this book explores the degree to which she can be considered a "feminist" in light of her adherence to Cartesianism, Christian theology, and Tory politics. The contributors explore the philosophical underpinnings of Astell's outspoken advocacy for the autonomy and education of women; examine the intricacies underlying her theories of power, community, and female resistance to unlawful authority; and reveal the similarities between her own philosophy of gender and sexual politics and feminist theorizing today.

A broad-ranging look at one of the most important female writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, this volume will be especially valuable to students and scholars of feminist history and philosophy and the early modern era.

Aside from the editors, the contributors are Kathleen A. Ahearn, Jacqueline Broad, Karen Detlefsen, Susan Paterson Glover, Marcy P. Lascano, Elisabeth Hedrick Moser, Christine Mason Sutherland, and Nancy Tuana.

Contents

Contents

Preface

Nancy Tuana

Acknowledgments

1 Locations and Legacies: Reading Mary Astell and Re-Reading the Canon

Penny A. Weiss

2 Mary Astell and the Virtues

Jacqueline Broad

3 Mary Astell's Account of Feminine Self-Esteem

Kathleen A. Ahearn

4 Mary Astell and the Development of Vice: Pride, Courtship, and the Woman's Human Nature Question

Alice Sowaal

5 Custom, Freedom, and Equality: Mary Astell on Marriage and Women's Education

Karen Detlefsen

6 Further Reflections upon Marriage: Mary Astell and Sarah Chapone

Susan Paterson Glover

7 Mary Astell: Some Reflections upon Trauma

Elisabeth Hedrick Moser

8 "From the Throne to Every Private Family": Mary Astell as Analyst of Power

Penny A. Weiss

9 Mary Astell's Feminism: A Rhetorical Perspective

Christine Mason Sutherland

10 Mary Astell on the Existence and Nature of God

Marcy P. Lascano

11 The Emerging Picture of Mary Astell's Views

Alice Sowaal

References

Index