v. 1. The Aristotelian revolution, 750 BC-AD 1250 -- v. 2. The early humanist Reformation, 1250-1500.

Today a “new” field of philosophy has emerged which can be called simply “The Philosophy of Man and Woman”. Paradoxically, it is a field of study with a long and impressive history which began when the pre-Socratic philosophers first questioned their own identity in the midst of the world. Their questions fall into four broad areas:1. How is the male “opposite” to the female?2. What roles do male and female play in the generation and identity of offspring?3. Are women and (...) men wise in the same or different ways?4. Are women and men good in the same or different ways? (shrink)

Mary Ellen Waithe has put together another collection of essays on seventeen different women philosophers. In addition to serving as the general editor, Waithe authors lengthy chapters on Murasaki Shikibu, a Japanese literary writer; Heloise, a French writer on love and friendship; Oliva Sabuco de Nantes Barrera, a Spanish writer in natural philosophy; and a short summary chapter on Roswitha of Gandersheim, Christine Pisan, Margaret More Roper, and Teresa of Avila.

I appreciate very much the thoroughness with which Jocelyne St-Arnaud has analyzed the text of my paper. As she points out, the major source of difference between our approach to the authors under consideration derives from a preference for an ethical and political perspective on her side and a preference for a metaphysical perspective on mine. However, there are a few key points in interpretation that need to be addressed which go beyond this central difference in orientation.

This pioneering study by Sister Prudence Allen traces the concept of woman in relation to man in more than seventy philosophers from ancient and medieval traditions. The fruit of ten years' work, this study uncovers four general categories of questions asked by philosophers for two thousand years. These are the categories of opposites, of generation, of wisdom, and of virtue. Sister Prudence Allen traces several recurring strands of sexual and gender identity within this period. Ultimately, she shows the paradoxical influence (...) of Aristotle on the question of woman and on a philosophical understanding of sexual coomplemenarity. Supplemented throughout with helpful charts, diagrams, and illustrations, this volume will be an important resource for scholars and students in the fields of women's studies, philosophy, history, theology, literary studies, and political science. (shrink)

Three contemporary acts—corporate theft, sexual abuse of minors, and abortion—when done by generally moral people whose consciences at times seems to be inoperative, all share the same dynamic of harming an innocent person entrusted to them. Drawingupon philosophical anthropology, I argue that these acts reveal a mislocation of conscience in the emotions, imagination, memory, theoretical intellect, or will as defended by Hume, James, Freud, Kant, Nietzsche, or Hegel. In this article Aquinas and certain contemporary Catholic philosophers engage these erroneous views (...) about conscience. They defend the position that conscience is found in a person’s exercise of the practical intellect as integrated with, but not supplanted by, these other operations. Throughout the analysis Christine Gudorf’s existential reflection on the relation of her conscience to abortion is analyzed. I argue that many generallymoral people today have in one area either disengaged, locked tight, or transferred their conscience by what Robert Lifton calls “The Faustian Bargain of Doubling.”. (shrink)

Mary Ellen Waithe has put together another collection of essays on seventeen different women philosophers. In addition to serving as the general editor, Waithe authors lengthy chapters on Murasaki Shikibu, a Japanese literary writer; Heloise, a French writer on love and friendship; Oliva Sabuco de Nantes Barrera, a Spanish writer in natural philosophy; and a short summary chapter on Roswitha of Gandersheim, Christine Pisan, Margaret More Roper, and Teresa of Avila.

Mary Rousseau has written an important work on community. In this text she considers the contrasting foundations and effects of communitarian society versus contractual society. Citing several examples of concrete choices she relentlessly seeks to demonstrate that community is the only real choice that faces people who want fulfilment in their lives.

It is often claimed that feminist philosophy has moved into a second phase of development, a self critical period in which previous theories are subjected to rigorous analysis and evaluation. Jean Elshtain's Public Man, Private Woman is an excellent example of this second phase. Her text offers a powerful critique not only of traditional philosophers' theories of the relation of the public-private distinction to sex identity, but also classifies and evaluates several different contemporary feminist philosophies. Finally, Elshtain suggests a theory (...) of her own about how the public and private spheres ought to be structured for the future of women and men. (shrink)