The Routledge Handbook of Women and Early Modern European Philosophy (Routledge Handbooks in Philosophy)

The Routledge Handbook of Women and Early Modern European Philosophy is an outstanding reference source for the wide range of philosophical contributions made by women writing in Europe from about 1560 to 1780. It shows the range of genres and methods used by women writing in these centuries in Europe, thus encouraging an expanded understanding of our historical canon. Comprising 46 chapters by a team of contributors from all over the globe, including early career researchers, the Handbook is divided into the following sections: I. Context II. Themes A. Metaphysics and Epistemology B. Natural Philosophy C. Moral Philosophy D. Social-Political Philosophy III. Figures IV. State of the Field The volume is essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy who are interested in expanding their understanding of the richness of our philosophical past, including in order to offer expanded, more inclusive syllabi for their students. It is also a valuable resource for those in related fields like gender and women’s studies; history; literature; sociology; history and philosophy of science; and political science. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Contributors 1 Introduction Part I: Context 2 Women and Institutions in Early Modern Europe: Making Space for Female Scholarship 3 Canon, Gender, and Historiography 4 Method, Genre, and the Scope of Philosophy Part II: Themes Section A: Metaphysics and Epistemology 5 God, Freedom, and Perfection in Conway, Astell, and du Châtelet 6 Vitalistic Causation: More, Conway, Cavendish 7 It’s All Alive! Cavendish and Conway against Dualism 8 Margaret Cavendish, Anne Conway, and Catharine Cockburn on Matter 9 Skepticism 10 Ways of Knowing Part II: Section B: Natural Philosophy 11 Space and Time 12 Method and Explanation 13 Physics and Optics: Agnesi, Bassi, Du Châtelet 14 Women, Medicine, and the Life Sciences 15 Theories of Perception Part II: Section C: Moral Philosophy 16 Early Modern Women and the Metaphysics of Free Will 17 Friendship as a Means to Freedom 18 Managing Mockery: Reason, Passions and the Good Life among Early Modern Women Philosophers 19 Virtue and Moral Obligation 20 Men, Women, Equality, and Difference Part II: Section D: Social-Political Philosophy 21 Autonomy and Marriage 22 Slavery and Servitude in Seventeenth-Century Feminism: Arcangela Tarabotti and Gabrielle Suchon 23 Race and Gender in Early Modern Philosophy: How Amo and Astell Wrote behind the Veil 24 Early Modern European Women and the Philosophy of Education: Van Schurman, Pascal, Maintenon and Astell 25 Critical Perspectives on Religion 26 Beauty, Gender, and Power from Marinelli to Wollstonecraft 27 Theories of the State Part III: Figures 28 Italian Women Philosophers in the Sixteenth Century: From a Critique of the Aristotelian Gender Paradigm to an Affirmation of the Excellence of Women 29 Teresa de Ávila on Self-Knowledge 30 (Self-)Portraits between Two Gowns: Marie de Gournay 31 Madeleine de Scudéry: Moral Philosophy in a Gendered Key 32 The Unorthodox Margaret Cavendish 33 Anne Conway 34 Gabrielle Suchon on Women’s Freedom 35 The Socratic Pedagogy of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 36 Mary Astell (1666–1731) 37 Damaris Masham and Catharine Trotter Cockburn: Agency, Virtue, and Fitness in their Moral Philosophies 38 Du Châtelet and the Philosophy of Physics 39 The Real Consequences of Imaginary Things: Louise Dupin’s Critique of Sexist Historiography 40 Catharine Macaulay’s Philosophy and Her Influence on Mary Wollstonecraft 41 Phillis Wheatley and the Limits of the History of Philosophy 42 Mary Wollstonecraft 43 Remorse and Moral Progress in Sophie de Grouchy’s Letters on Sympathy 44 Mary Shepherd (1777–1847) 45 Women and Philosophy in the German Context Part IV: State of the Field 46 What Difference? The Renaissance of Women Philosophers Index