Edith Stein, Husserl's brilliant student and assistant, devoted ten years of her life to teaching in a girls' secondary school, during which time she gave a series of lectures on educational reform and the appropriate education to be provided to girls. She grounds her answer to these questions in a philosophical account of the nature of woman. She argues that men and women share some universally human characteristics, but that they have separate and distinct natures. Her awareness of the rich (...) variety of different personality types and specific differences among individuals allows her to hold an essentialist view of the nature of woman without either stereotyping individual women or assuming that woman's nature is in any way inferior to man's. (shrink)

Toward the end of her life, Simone Weil designated a "logic of the absurd" as an urgent, essential task of the time. Although Weil herself laid no claim to have accomplished this task, Wicki-Vogt's thorough, comprehensive study reveals this as the central, unifying theme of Weil's philosophizing. The book presents an organized account of Weil's total philosophy, gleaned and interpreted from her unorganized, often incoherent writings. The value of Weil's thought that emerges may come as a revelation to readers who (...) have not had the time or patience to peruse the eighteen volumes of Weil's notebooks, diaries, and other works which have been published posthumously. (shrink)