Thinking Woman: A Philosphical Approach to the Quandary of Gender

What does it mean to be a woman? Do women have a unique nature and a unique vocation? Should feminists work to help women specifically or to support all people? 'Thinking Woman' examines the lives and ideas of women thinkers who wished to understand and be advocates for themselves as women. Some, like Hildegard of Bingen and Edith Stein, found Woman to be a unique creature designed by God, necessary for good stewardship of creation. Others, such as Mary Wollstonecraft and Sojourner Truth, found women to be identical to men in all but biology and thus identical before the law. Still others, such as Simone de Beauvoir and Judith Butler, found the very question troubling as they tried to separate cultural ideas from biological rules. These women and their views form a canon on the question of women, a canon that can help guide the conversation for thinkers and activists today who want both to understand women and to be advocates for justice for all people. Jennifer Hockenbery Dragseth is Professor of Philosophy at Mount Mary University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She teaches courses in Christian philosophy, history of philosophy, ethics, philosophy of science, and women philosophers. 'In style, form, and content, ?Thinking Woman? is a text that matters. Jennifer Hockenbery Dragseth weaves together history, biography, analysis, and critique to present the impressive range of work by women philosophers on central questions of gender and our common humanity. This work's relevance to contemporary science, health care, religion, and politics is essential, making Dragseth herself a thinking woman to whom we must listen.' Caryn Riswold, Professor of Religion, Gender and Women's Studies, Illinois College. 'Jennifer Dragseth uniquely advances the scholarly examination of gender and sexual difference. In her search for the truth about the complex question of ?What is a woman??, Dragseth invites readers to engage critically with major gender theories and to do so specifically in conversation with the thinking women who for centuries have approached the quandary of gender philosophically.' Kirsi Stjerna, Professor of Lutheran History and Theology, University of Helsinki.

Publisher -

Author(s) - Jennifer Hockenbery Dragseth

Paperback

Published Date -

ISBN - 9780718894290

Dimensions - 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.1 cm

Page Count - 215