Presenting Women Philosophers

by Tougas, Cecile T.; Ebenreck, Sara

• ISBN13: 9781566397612
• ISBN10: 1566397618
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-05-17
• Publisher: Temple Univ Pr

Summary

Western philosophy has long excluded the work of women thinkers from their canon. Presenting Women Philosophers addresses this exclusion by examining the breadth of women's contributions to Western thought over some 900 years. Editors Cecile T. Tougas and Sara Ebenreck have gathered essays and other writings that reflect women's deep engagement with the meaning of individual experience as well as the continuity of their philosophical concerns and practices. Arranged thematically, the collection ranges across eras and literary genres as it emphasizes the intellectual significance of written work by key figures-for example, Hildegard of Bingen's visionary writings, Iris Murdoch's fiction, Hannah Arendt's historical narratives, and the oral storytelling in black women's literary tradition. The collection also brings to light the philosophical importance of little-known work by such writers as Mme de Sable and Mme de Condorcet. This wide-ranging collection offers non-philosophers an introduction to women's thought but also promises to engage advanced students of philosophy with new research on unrecognized contributions. Author note: Cecile T. Tougas, formerly an Assistant Professor of Philosophy, is a teacher of Latin and Algebra at Ben Franklin Academy in Atlanta. >P>Sara Ebenreck is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at St. Mary's College of Maryland.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword	xi
Elizabeth Kamarck Minnich
Acknowledgments	xiii
Introduction	xv
Sara Ebenreck
Cecile T. Tougas
I. The Loss and the Recovery of Women's Voices
Introduction to Part I	3	(2)
Sara Ebenreck
Why Have There Been So Few Women Philosophers?	5	(10)
Gerda Lerner
Introduction to A Voice From the South	15	(16)
Mary Helen Washington
II. Naming Reality---Differently
Introduction to Part II	27	(4)
Sara Ebenreck
Hildegard of Bingen: A New Medieval Philosopher?	31	(10)
Helen J. John.
Ednah Dow Cheney's American Aesthetics	41	(10)
Therese B. Dykeman
Jane Addams's Feminist Ethics	51	(8)
Marilyn Fischer
Moral Wisdom in the Black Women's Literary Tradition	59	(12)
Katie Geneva Cannon
Susanne K. Langer's Conception of ``Symbol'': Making Connections through Ambiguity	71	(10)
Beatrice K. Nelson
Hannah Arendt: On the Relation of Thinking and Morality	81	(10)
Elizabeth K. Minnich
Hannah Arendt and Susan Griffin: Toward a Feminist Metahistory	91	(14)
Shari Stone-Mediatore
Finding New Roots as a Woman Philosopher	105	(12)
Sara Ebenreck
III. Philosophical Friendships
Introduction to Part III	113	(4)
Cecile T. Tougas
Helosie and Abelard	117	(12)
Mary Ellen Waithe
Elisabeth, Princess Palatine: Letters to Rene Descartes	129	(10)
Andrea Nye
Gloria Anzaldua's Borderlands/La Frontera and Rene Descartes's Discourse on Method: Moving beyond the Canon in discussion of Philosophical Ideas	139	(8)
Lisa A. Bergin
Mary Astell: A Pre-Humean Christian Empiricist and Feminist	147	(8)
Jane Duran
Harriet Taylor Mill's Collaboration with John Stuart Mill	155	(12)
Jo Ellen Jacobs
Poems from Fifty Forms for Fifty Philosophies	167	(8)
Veda A. Cobb-Stevens
Philosophical Friendship, 1996: A Postscript	175	(12)
Cecile T. Tougas
IV. Love, Feeling, and Community
Introduction to Part IV	181	(6)
Cecile T. Tougas
Christine de Pizan and Jehanne d' Arc: Above All the Heroes Past	187	(14)
Tracy Adams
Madame de Sable's Moral Philosophy: A Jansenist Salon	201	(12)
John J. Conley
A Woman-Centered Philosophy: An Alternative to Enlightenment Thought (1700--1750)	213	(12)
Ann Willeford
Madame de Condorcet's Letters on Sympathy	225	(14)
Karin Brown
Iris Murdoch: Love and The Bell	239	(14)
Patricia J. O'Connor
Why I Have Worked on This Book for Several Years	253	(6)
Cecile T. Tougas
Contributors	259	(4)
Index	263