Feminist Interpretations of Thomas Hobbes

Nancy J. Hirschmann, Joanne H. Wright

• Publisher: Penn State University Press
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9780271061351
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Political Philosophy

Feminist Interpretations of Thomas Hobbes features the work of feminist scholars who are centrally engaged with Hobbes's ideas and texts and who view Hobbes as an important touchstone in modern political thought. Bringing together scholars from the disciplines of philosophy, history, political theory, and English literature who embrace diverse theoretical and philosophical approaches and a range of feminist perspectives, this interdisciplinary collection aims to appeal to an audience of Hobbes scholars and nonspecialists alike.

As a theorist whose trademark is a compelling argument for absolute sovereignty, Hobbes may seem initially to have little to offer twenty-first-century feminist thought. Yet, as the contributors to this collection demonstrate, Hobbesian political thought provides fertile ground for feminist inquiry. Indeed, in engaging Hobbes, feminist theory engages with what is perhaps the clearest and most influential articulation of the foundational concepts and ideas associated with modernity: freedom, equality, human nature, authority, consent, coercion, political obligation, and citizenship.

Aside from the editors, the contributors are Joanne Boucher, Karen Detlefsen, Karen Green, Wendy Gunther-Canada, Jane S. Jaquette, S. A. Lloyd, Su Fang Ng, Carole Pateman, Gordon Schochet, Quentin Skinner, and Susanne Sreedhar.

Table of contents

• COVER Front
• Series Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface (Nancy Tuana)
• Notes to Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: The Many Faces of ‘‘Mr. Hobs’’ (Joanne H. Wright and Nancy J. Hirschmann)
• Notes to Introduction
• Chapter 1: Hobbes, History, Politics, and Gender: A Conversation with Carole Pateman and Quentin Skinner (Conducted by Nancy J. Hirschmannand Joanne H. Wright)
• PART I: Classic Questions, New Approaches
• Chapter 2: Power and Sexual Subordination in Hobbes’s Political Theory (S. A. Lloyd)
• Notes to Chapter 2
• Chapter 3: Defending Liberal Feminism: Insights from Hobbes (Jane S. Jaquette)
• Notes to Chapter 3
• Chapter 4: Hobbes and the Bestial Body of Sovereignty (Su Fang Ng)
• Notes to Chapter 4
• PART II: The Gendered Politics of Gratitude, Contract, and the Family
• Chapter 5: Thomas Hobbes on the Family and the State of Nature (1967) (Gordon J. Schochet)
• Notes to Chapter 5
• Chapter 6: Gordon Schochet on Hobbes ,Gratitude, and Women (Nancy J. Hirschmann)
• Notes to Chapter 6
• PART III: Hobbes and His(torical)Women
• Chapter 7: Margaret Cavendish and Thomas Hobbes on Freedom, Education, and Women (Karen Detlefsen)
• Notes to Chapter 7
• Chapter 8: When Is a Contract Theorist Not a Contract Theorist?: Mary Astell and Catharine Macaulayas Critics of Thomas Hobbes (Karen Green)
• Notes to Chapter 8
• Chapter 9: Catharine Macaulay’s ‘‘Loose Remarks’’ on Hobbesian Politics (Wendy Gunther-Canada)
• Notes to Chapter 9
• PART IV: Hobbes in the Twenty-First Century, or What Has Hobbes (Done for You Lately?)
• Chapter 10: Thomas Hobbes and the Problem of Fetal Personhood (Joanne Boucher)
• Notes to Chapter 10
• Chapter 11: Choice Talk, Breast Implants, and Feminist Consent Theory: Hobbes’s Legacy in Choice Feminism (Joanne H. Wright)
• Notes to Chapter 11
• Chapter 12: Toward a Hobbesian Theory of Sexuality (Susanne Sreedhar)
• Notes to Chapter 12
• Notes on Contributors
• Index
• COVER Back