Mary Astell's serious proposal: Mind, method, and custom

Philosophy Compass 2 (2):227–243 (2007)
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Abstract

In general outline, Astell's A Serious Proposal to the Ladies is well understood. In Part I, Astell argues that women are educable, and she proposes the construction of a women's academy. In Part II, she proposes a method for the improvement of the mind. In this article, I reconstruct and contextualize Astell's arguments and proposals within her theory of mind and her account of the skeptical predicament that she sees as being endemic among women. I argue that Astell's two proposals are best understood as strategies that, when employed, will allow women to critique prejudice and custom.

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Author's Profile

Alice Sowaal
San Francisco State University

References found in this work

The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory.Marilyn Frye - 1983 - Trumansburg, NY: The Crossing Press.
Women Philosophers of the Seventeenth Century.Jacqueline Broad - 2002 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
Philosophical Writings.René Descartes, Alexandre Koyré, P. T. Geach & Elizabeth Ascombe - 1971 - Bobbs-Merrill. Edited by Benedictus de Spinoza.
Cartesian generosity.Lisa Shapiro - 1999 - Acta Philosophica Fennica 64:249-276.

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