Women, Philosophy and Science : Italy and Early Modern Europe

"This book sheds light on the originality and historical significance of womens philosophical, moral, political and scientific ideas in Italy and early modern Europe. Divided into three sections, it starts by discussing the women philosophers engagement with the classical inheritance with regard to the works of Moderata Fonte, Tullia d'Aragona and Anne Conway. The next section examines the relationship between women philosophers and the new philosophy of nature, focusing on the connections between female thought and the new seventeenth- and eighteenth-century science, and discussing the work of Camilla Erculiani, Margherita Sarocchi, Margaret Cavendish, Mariangela Ardinghelli, Teresa Ciceri, Candida Lena Perpenti, and Alessandro Volta. The final section presents male philosophers perspectives on the role of women, discussing the place of women in the work of Giordano Bruno, Poulain de la Barre and the theories of Hobbes and Rawls. By exploring these women philosophers, writers and translators, the book offers a re-examination of the early modern thinking of and about women in Italy" --Provided by publisher Front Matter ....Pages i-xvi Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Moderata Fonte and Michel de Montaigne in the Renaissance Debate on Friendship and Marriage (Annalisa Ceron)....Pages 3-24 Gender and Equality between Women and Men in Tullia d’Aragona’s Dialogue on the Infinity of Love (Evangelia Aikaterini Glantzi)....Pages 25-40 Plato and the Platonism of Anne Conway (Sarah Hutton)....Pages 41-51 Front Matter ....Pages 53-53 Letters on Natural Philosophy and New Science: Camilla Erculiani (Padua 1584) and Margherita Sarrocchi (Rome 1612) (Sandra Plastina)....Pages 55-80 Margaret Cavendish and Robert Boyle on the Purpose, Method and Writing of Natural Philosophy (Emma Wilkins)....Pages 81-104 Margaret Cavendish: Science and Women’s Power Through the Blazing World (Carlotta Cossutta)....Pages 105-122 A Woman Between Buffon and Sauvage: Mariangela Ardinghelli, the Italian Translator of Hales’ Books (Corinna Guerra)....Pages 123-145 Female Science, Experimentation, and ‘Common Utility’. Teresa Ciceri, Candida Lena Perpenti, and Alessandro Volta’s Research (Alessandra Mita Ferraro)....Pages 147-159 Front Matter ....Pages 161-161 Amorous Attraction and the Role of Women in the Work of Giordano Bruno (Simonetta Bassi)....Pages 163-175 Women from Objects to Subjects of Science in Poulain de La Barre (Marie-Frédérique Pellegrin)....Pages 177-191 From Natural Equality to Sexual Subordination in the Theories of Hobbes and Rawls (S. A. Lloyd)....Pages 193-210 Back Matter ....Pages 211-218 Part 1: Women philosophers and the classical inheritance -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. Moderata Fonte and Michel de Montaigne in the Renaissance debate on friendship and marriage (Annalisa Ceron) -- Chapter 2. Plato and the Platonism of Anne Conway (Sarah Hutton) -- Part 2: Women philosophers and the new philosophy of nature -- Chapter 3. Letters on natural philosophy and new science: Camilla Erculiani (Padua 1584) and Margherita Sarocchi (Rome 1612) (Sandra Plastina) -- Chapter 4. Margaret Cavendish and Robert Boyle on the purpose, method and writing of natural philosophy (Emma Wilkins) -- Chapter 5. Margaret Cavendish: science and women's power through The Blazing World (Carlotta Cossutta) -- Chapter 6. A woman between Buffon and Sauvage: Mariangela Ardinghelli, the Italian translator of Hales' books (Corinna Guerra) -- Chapter 7. Female science, experimentation, and 'common utility'. Teresa Ciceri, Candida Lena Perpenti, and Alessandro Volta's research (Alessandra Mita Ferraro) -- Part 3: Men philosophers on the role of women -- Chapter 8. Amorous attraction and the role of women in the work of Giordano Bruno (Simonetta Bassi) -- Chapter 9. Women from objects to subjects of science in Poulain de La Barre (Marie-Frédérique Pellegrin) -- Chapter 10. From natural equality to sexual subordination in the theories of Hobbes and Rawls (S. A. Lloyd) -- Index