The Woman of Reason: Feminism, Humanism and Political Thought - Softcover

Green, Karen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0745614493 ISBN 13: 9780745614496

Publisher: Polity, 1995

Synopsis

This is a timely re-appraisal of feminist political thinkers and their male contemporaries, providing a re-evaluation of feminist humanism.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

This important and timely book challenges the direction taken by much recent work in the field of feminist studies. It mounts a powerful defence of humanism - a tradition of which many contemporary feminists have been sharply critical.

Many feminists have viewed 'reason' and 'rationality' with deep suspicion. They have argued that reason was constructed by male philosophers in a way that excluded feminine traits: the man of reason was a masculine fiction.

But this rejection of humanism assumes that there is only one tradition of humanism and only one conception of the rational individual. By carefully re-examining the texts of a feminist humanist tradition, Karen Green uncovers a different conception of the rational individual - a 'female version of rationality'. She captures the specificity of women's thought through a careful examination of their writings and their differences from the work of their male contemporaries.

On this basis, Green argues that we need to reconceptualize both rationality and liberalism. Maintaining the ideal of rationality is quite compatible with understanding ourselves as embodied, emotional creatures whose sense of self is made up of a mixture of reason and feeling. Feminist humanism can provide a firm basis for political action and a compelling defence of equal political representation for women and men.

About the Author:

Karen Green is a lecturer in Philosophy at Monash University, Australia.

About this edition

• Publisher: Polity
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0745614493
• ISBN 13: 9780745614496
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224