From a bold new voice in nonfiction, an exhilarating account of the
lives and works of influential 17th and 18th century feminist
philosophers Mary Wollstonecraft and her predecessors who have been
written out of history, and a searing look at the author's
experience of patriarchy and sexism in academiaAs a young woman
growing up in small-town Iowa, Regan Penaluna daydreamed about the
big questions: Who are we and what is this strange world we find
ourselves in? In college she fell in love with philosophy and chose
to pursue it as an academician, the first step, she believed, to
becoming a self-determined person living a life of the mind. What
Penaluna didn't realize was that the Western philosophical canon
taught in American universities, as well as the culture surrounding
it, would slowly grind her down through its misogyny, its
harassment, its devaluation of women and their intellect. Where
were the women philosophers?One day, in an obscure monograph,
Penaluna came across Damaris Cudworth Masham's name. The daughter
of philosopher Ralph Cudworth and a contemporary of John Locke,
Masham wrote about knowledge and God, and the condition of women.
Masham's work led Penaluna to other remarkable women philosophers
of the era: Mary Astell, who moved to London at age twenty-one and
made a living writing philosophy; Catharine Cockburn, a
philosopher, novelist, and playwright; and the better-known Mary
Wollstonecraft, who wrote extensively in defense of women's minds.
Together, these women rekindled Penaluna's love of philosophy and
awakened her feminist consciousness.In How to Think Like a Woman,
Regan Penaluna blends memoir, biography, and criticism to tell the
stories of these four women, weaving throughout an alternative
history of philosophy as well as her own search for love and truth.
Funny, honest, and wickedly intelligent, this is a moving
meditation on what philosophy could look like if women were treated
equally.
General
Imprint: |
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
February 2023 |
Authors: |
Regan Penaluna
|
Format: |
Hardcover
|
Pages: |
320 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8021-5880-2 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-8021-5880-3 |
Barcode: |
9780802158802 |
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