Feminism

Could you write philosophical books on women? I would like to read what philosophers think about women. It does not matter, it can be a book, extract. What classical philosophers think about women?

Comments

Good question! First, there have almost always been women in philosophy in the west, though their status has been very difficult owing to Patriarchy. There is an excellent four volume work called A History of Women in Philosophy, published by Springe. This largely addresses what women philosophers have thought and think (the history goes up to the early 19990s) but you can also find in it pictures of how males viewed females in philosophy. The history is sad; Aristotle was bad, Plato a bit better (he thought women could be rulers in an ideal republic). For a catalogue and examination of the grim ways women have been viewed in culture and the history of ideas, you might check out Simone de Beauvoir's classic, ground breaking book The Second Sex, published in 1949. So, the Springer History will give you a good look at the classical scene, and you might also look at Genevieve Lloyd's The Man of Reason:'Male' and 'Female' in Western Philosophy, published in 1984. For two early modern works arguing for a greater role for women, you might check out Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women and J.S. Mill's The Subjection of Women.

For the contemporary state of play on women in philosophy (and addressing questions of how women are viewed in the world of philosophy), you might check out the online website of The Society of Women in Philosophy:

http://www.uh.edu/~cfreelan/SWIP/

This will have abundant resources and links that will allow further inquiry.

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