Women Philosophers

Genre And The Boundaries Of Philosophy

Catherine Villanueva Gardner

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9780429982637
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosophy History & Theory

Long considered?non-philosophical,? the letters and novels of women like Catharine Macaulay, Mary Wollstonecraft, and George Eliot have often been omitted from the canon of the Western philosophical tradition. This unfortunate omission is corrected here through Catherine Villanueva Gardner's thorough discussion of the philosophical importance of their work. Gardner also looks carefully at why letters and novels have been considered this way since they are so prevalent in the work of women in general. Gardner argues that the devaluation or exclusion of certain forms of writing is connected to the biases that underpin the Western ethical tradition. This book is critical reading for courses in introductory philosophy and women's studies.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Catharine Macaulay’s Letters on Education: What Constitutes a Philosophical System
• 3 Allegory and Moral Philosophy in Christine de Pisan’s The Book of the City of Ladies
• 4 Mary Wollstonecraft and the Separation of Poetry and Politics
• 5 George Eliot and How to Read Novels as Philosophy
• 6 Knowing and Speaking of Divine Love: Mechthild of Magdeburg
• 7 Conclusion
• References
• Index