Selfhood and Self-government in Women’s Religious Writings of the Early Modern Period
International Journal of Philosophical Studies 27 (5):713-730 (2019)
Abstract
Some scholars have identified a puzzle in the writings of Mary Astell (1666–1731), a deeply religious feminist thinker of the early modern period. On the one hand, Astell strongly urges her fellow women to preserve their independence of judgement from men; yet, on the other, she insists upon those same women maintaining a submissive deference to the Anglican church. These two positions appear to be incompatible. In this paper, I propose a historical-contextualist solution to the puzzle: I argue that the seeming inconsistency can be dispelled through a close examination of (i) the concepts of selfhood and self-government in Anglican women’s devotional texts of the period, and of (ii) the role that these concepts play in Astell’s feminist arguments.Author's Profile
DOI
10.1080/09672559.2019.1663234
My notes
Similar books and articles
Impressions in the Brain: Malebranche on Women, and Women on Malebranche.Jacqueline Broad - 2012 - Intellectual History Review 22 (3):373-389.
Women Philosophers of the Early Modern Period.Margaret Atherton (ed.) - 1994 - Hackett Publishing Company.
Mary Astell: Theorist of Freedom From Domination.Patricia Springborg - 2005 - Cambridge University Press.
Mary Astell on Virtuous Friendship.Jacqueline Broad - 2009 - Parergon: Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies 26 (2):65-86.
Including Early Modern Women Writers in Survey Courses: A Call to Action.Jessica Gordon-Roth & Nancy Kendrick - 2015 - Metaphilosophy 46 (3):364-379.
Recovering Early Modern Women Writers.Jessica Gordon-Roth & Nancy Kendrick - 2019 - Metaphilosophy 50 (3):268-285.
Women on Liberty in Early Modern England.Jacqueline Broad - 2014 - Philosophy Compass 9 (2):112-122.
The Soul.R. W. Serjeantson - 2011 - In Desmond M. Clarke & Catherine Wilson (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy in Early Modern Europe. Oxford University Press.
Review: Atherton, Margaret (ed), Women philosophers of the early modern period. [REVIEW]Jacqueline Broad - 1997 - Australasian Journal of Philosophy 75 (2):248-9.
Encyclopedia of Religious and Philosophical Writings in Late Antiquity: Pagan, Judaic, Christian.Jacob Neusner & Alan Avery-Peck (eds.) - 2007 - Brill.
Encyclopedia of Religious and Philosophical Writings in Late Antiquity: Pagan, Judaic, Christian.Jacob Neusner & Alan Jeffery Avery-Peck (eds.) - 2007 - Brill.
Early Modern Women on Metaphysics.Emily Thomas (ed.) - 2018 - New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Analytics
Added to PP
2019-09-07
Downloads
173 (#74,413)
6 months
34 (#38,057)
2019-09-07
Downloads
173 (#74,413)
6 months
34 (#38,057)
Historical graph of downloads
Author's Profile
Citations of this work
New Perspectives on Agency in Early Modern Philosophy.Ruth Boeker - 2019 - Humana Mente 27 (5):625-630.
References found in this work
Mary Astell on Marriage and Lockean Slavery.Jacqueline Broad - 2014 - History of Political Thought 35 (4):717–38.
Custom Freedom and Equality: Mary Astell on marriage and women's education.Karen Detlefsen - 2016 - In Penny Weiss & Alice Sowaal (eds.), Feminist Interpretations of Mary Astell. Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 74-92.
Explaining Addiction: How Far Does the Reward Account of Motivation Take Us?Jeanette Kennett & Doug McConnell - 2013 - Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 56 (5):470 - 489.
Women Philosophers of Seventeenth-Century England: Selected Correspondence.Jacqueline Broad (ed.) - 2019 - New York: Oup Usa.