The history of modern philosophy is a major topic in philosophy and is crucial to an understanding of the advent of feminist philosophy. "Feminism and Modern Philosophy" introduces fundamental topics in modern philosophy from a feminist perspective. It takes the student through the subject step by step by looking at the main thinkers most usually examined on a course in modern philosophy and by examining the role of gender in studying classic philosophical texts.
The book covers the following structure looking at the ideas and work of the important thinkers in this period:
* Rereading the canon
* The attack on modernist philosophical reason
* The nature of "Man"
* The search for male allies
* Discovering women philosophers
* Are there universal philosophical truths?
* The function of history within the discipline of philosophy
Each chapter looks closely at the way in which the traditional philosophical canon has been re-interpreted by feminist theory and examines the implications for our interpretation of specific texts. It looks at, for example:
* A feminist critique of Cartesian rationalism
* The implications of Locke's state of nature for the idea of the family
* An appreciation of Hume's unique "collaboration" with Annette Baier
Chapters close with a summary and the book contains an extensive annotated bibliography.
Andrea Nye's style is student friendly and will be ideal for anyone coming to the topic for the first time. It will be appropriate for philosophy as well as gender studies courses looking at the development of modern Western thought.

"Philosophia" brings together the work of three major women thinkers of this century: Rosa Luxemburg, Simone Weil and Hannah Arendt. The text explores the continuities and developments of their views on justice, knowledge, the self, divinity, and the way philosophical problems have been framed in the mainstream masculine tradition. The author explains that the link between these women is not that they express the same ideas, or even that they have a common feminine style, but that each keeps her philosophical theorizing in constant contact with experienced reality. Always thinking about and through the catastrophic changing events of the 20th century, they produced a developing and deepening commentary on the human condition. Nye suggests this might be a better resource than traditional philosophy, for those struggling against sexism, racism and injustice.

Originally published in 1990. A common complaint of philosophers, and men in general, has been that women are illogical. On the other hand, rationality, defined as the ability to follow logical argument, is often claimed to be a defining characteristic of man. Andrea Nye undermines assumptions such as: logic is unitary, logic is independent of concrete human relations, logic transcends historical circumstances as well as gender. In a series of studies of the logics of historical figures Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, Abelard, Ockham, and Frege she traces the changing interrelationships between logical innovation and oppressive speech strategies, showing that logic is not transcendent truth but abstract forms of language spoken by men, whether Greek ruling citizens, imperial administrators, church officials, or scientists. She relates logical techniques, such as logical division, syllogisms, and truth functions, to ways in which those with power speak to and about those subject to them. She shows, in the specific historical settings of Ancient and Hellenistic Greece, medieval Europe, and Germany between the World Wars, how logicians reworked language so that dialogue and reciprocity are impossible and one speaker is forced to accept the words of another. In the personal, as well as confrontative style of her readings, Nye points the way to another power in the words of women that might break into and challenge rational discourses that have structured Western thought and practice.

The history of modern philosophy is a major topic in philosophy and is crucial to an understanding of the advent of feminist philosophy. "Feminism and Modern Philosophy" introduces fundamental topics in modern philosophy from a feminist perspective. It takes the student through the subject step by step by looking at the main thinkers most usually examined on a course in modern philosophy and by examining the role of gender in studying classic philosophical texts.
The book covers the following structure looking at the ideas and work of the important thinkers in this period:
* Rereading the canon
* The attack on modernist philosophical reason
* The nature of "Man"
* The search for male allies
* Discovering women philosophers
* Are there universal philosophical truths?
* The function of history within the discipline of philosophy
Each chapter looks closely at the way in which the traditional philosophical canon has been re-interpreted by feminist theory and examines the implications for our interpretation of specific texts. It looks at, for example:
* A feminist critique of Cartesian rationalism
* The implications of Locke's state of nature for the idea of the family
* An appreciation of Hume's unique "collaboration" with Annette Baier
Chapters close with a summary and the book contains an extensive annotated bibliography.
Andrea Nye's style is student friendly and will be ideal for anyone coming to the topic for the first time. It will be appropriate for philosophy as well as gender studies courses looking at the development of modern Western thought.

For a number of years, those interested in recovering women's thought have known about Princess Elisabeth, a seventeenth-century correspondent and friend of Descartes whose questions provoked the philosopher to think more seriously about ethics and the passions. Up to now, only a few of her letters have found their way into print. This volume includes translations of all of Elisabeth's extant letters to Descartes, as well as of other materials relevant to understanding her philosophical perspective and her life. Nye has supplemented the translations with a running commentary on the historical, biographical, and intellectual context of the letters. The letters were during a tumultuous time in European history. A devastating Thirty Years War had ruined Elisabeth's family and devastated their principality, the Palatine. On his part, Descartes was increasingly embroiled in bitter controversies surrounding his work in relatively free-thinking Holland. In her commentary Nye shows how personal experiences energized his and Elisabeth's different views of the relation between mind and body, the existence of God, and the nature of morality. What Nye evokes, along with the thinking of an extraordinary woman, is an alternative model for philosophy, a nonadversarial form of dialogue that does not pretend to objective theorizing. Such a philosophy depends on mutual respect and trust, on concern for the other's sensibilities and views, on friendship between women and men with a common concern for human life.

First published in 1990. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor and Francis, an informa company.

First published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

'There are several titles that review the historical background and philosophical development of various branches of feminist theory, and Nye's new work must be counted among the best. It is lucid, comprehensive, and tightly written. The author's grasp of the dialectical and substantive intricacies of the various theories discussed is quite impressive. There are exceptionally good discussions of the relationship between Marxism and feminism, on feminism and psychoanalysis, and on reconstruction and feminism. Indeed, Nye's exposition of the notoriously arcane work of Lacan, Derrida, and the French semioticians is among the most masterful in the literature. Although Nye's notion of the theory of feminist practice is rather sketchy, she succeeds in provoking the deepest kind of thinking about these issues by the sheer intelligence of her overall analysis. A necessary addition for any college library. Should be viewed as one of the representative works in the field.' -Choice

Few women's voices have survived from the antiquity period, but evidence shows that, especially in the area of religion, women were influential in Greek culture. Drawing on Socrates' Symposium , Nye advances this notion by not only exploring the original religious meaning of Diotima's teaching but also how that meaning has been lost throughout time.

Originally published in 1990. A common complaint of philosophers, and men in general, has been that women are illogical. On the other hand, rationality, defined as the ability to follow logical argument, is often claimed to be a defining characteristic of man. Andrea Nye undermines assumptions such as: logic is unitary, logic is independent of concrete human relations, logic transcends historical circumstances as well as gender. In a series of studies of the logics of historical figures Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, Abelard, Ockham, and Frege she traces the changing interrelationships between logical innovation and oppressive speech strategies, showing that logic is not transcendent truth but abstract forms of language spoken by men, whether Greek ruling citizens, imperial administrators, church officials, or scientists. She relates logical techniques, such as logical division, syllogisms, and truth functions, to ways in which those with power speak to and about those subject to them. She shows, in the specific historical settings of Ancient and Hellenistic Greece, medieval Europe, and Germany between the World Wars, how logicians reworked language so that dialogue and reciprocity are impossible and one speaker is forced to accept the words of another. In the personal, as well as confrontative style of her readings, Nye points the way to another power in the words of women that might break into and challenge rational discourses that have structured Western thought and practice.