Female Role In Modern Philosophy

In the Ancient World, famous and influential philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle and Augustine presented profound passages and views on human nature as well as women’s role in relation to men. The majority of views regarding women at this point in time illustrated the female sex as being inferior to men, presenting a patriarchal social structure. Women held a subordinate role in society, which was often reflected in philosophers’ theories and theological ideas. However, Plato has been distinguished as one of the very first feminist philosophers due to his radical ideas in the Republic. Plato’s Republic is an influential masterpiece, distinguishing him from many male chauvinistic philosophers. This essay will indicate that the Republic was

A Vindication of the Rights of Women: One of the earliest books on women’s philosophy.

Anne Sexton was born Anne Gray Harvey on November 9, 1928 in Newton, Massachusetts. Her parents, Ralph Harvey and his wife, Mary Gray Staples Harvey overlooked their youngest child Anne. According to the Great Lives from History, she grew up lonely and excluded from family activities, because she was never able to reach the standards her father wanted. She felt overlooked and unwanted, and even as a child developed a reputation for doing daring and drastic things just to be noticed. Her early life was marked by episodes of rebelliousness and named by her mother as “boy-crazy” (Johnson, Sheila). After graduation, she enrolled in the Garland School and in 1948, eloped with Alfred Muller Sexton II. It was apparent that Anne suffered from serious emotional troubles when she became depressed after her second child. Although every woman in the 1950’s yearned to become a housewife and mother, Sexton found this experience shocking and devastating. She soon began psychiatric treatment with Martha Brunner-Orne and her son that “recognized Sexton’s creative potential and encouraged her to write” (Johnson, Sheila). It would soon become an outlet for Sexton’s personal problems and opinions.

The roles of women have always been changing over time, and the roles of women have never been identical in two different societies. Throughout history we have seen women be vital to societies and treated as such, women have had power and equality to men. We have seen great women successfully lead massive empires, but we have also seen women be mistreated, objectified, and treated as less than a man. An analysis of four sources shows how the role of women in the west, central Asia, and China had many differences but also many similarities.

The political views of male Enlightenment figures consisted of campaigning for human rights and freedom for all, but when they said all, in most cases this invitation did not include women. During the Enlightenment, the period of reasoning and logic, new ideas supporting women’s rights were conceived. The persecution and objectification that women have faced throughout history is immeasurable. There was nothing close to equality between men and women in political, social, or economic fields. Men considered women’s only purpose their ability to bear children, heirs for the upper classes and laborers for the lower. Women’s fathers and husbands had dictated the limitations and rules of conduct for women, placing restraints as in which people they

Gender is one of the biggest ways we judge someone in our world today. Being a girl is typically a sign of being weak, powerless, and not as important. If a man was called a girl, it means they are being childish, or stupid about a certain situation. On the reverse, being a man comes with many expectations of power and strength as well as just being the bigger, better person. They say boys learn how to be a man from none other than his father, or a father figure none the less. People stick on stereotypes for being both a girl and a boy. Gender even depicts things like being in a rock band, or playing sports. Most girls who are in rock bands are considered childish, almost as if they are playing around and are not any good. Just like boys who do not play sports are known to be sissy and weak. The groups society puts people in do not even make sense half the time, seeing as, for example, there are many sports that are for girls rather than boys. Although gender roles do play an important part in how we treat people, we should not judge people based on their gender. Pearson writes in a way that makes gender constrict and define the characters. Stereotyping someone based on their gender is an awful way to get to know someone.

In the world we live in, brilliant minds can vary from people to people, whether they are poor, wealthy, tall, short, or in this case, a female. For example, one prominent female philosopher who has impacted our view of society and many other issues, is none other than Mary Wollstonecraft. A former English writer, philosopher and advocate of women’s rights, and regarded as one of the best female rights activists of her time, Mary Wollstonecraft had spread her beliefs from one mind to another. Who are we to think that such a person as Mary Wollstonecraft had contributed and influence our very own thinking process toward the fields she had once fought for, thus, creating a foundation for what she and many others proudly stand for. In return, an innumerable amount of people now considers Mary Wollstonecraft as a

If women are not prepared by education, they will stop the progress of knowledge and virtue; because truth such as this must be common to all, or it will be counterproductive with consideration of its influence on general practice. She made the claim that society acts in a that portrays women as the insignificant gender. If women are able to become fixated on the same “immutable principle” as men, then more value will be held in every manner (2). However, if women are to be excluded “from a participation of the natural rights of mankind,” inequality and injustice will persist within individual liberties (2). Further, mankind should be viewed collectively when compared by the degree of a reason, virtue, and knowledge.

Poetry affects the ancient and modern world indefinitely. Sometimes ambiguous, the influence of poetry relies on how one interprets it, but Aemilia Lanyer’s poems contributed clear ideas on morality. Her poetry summarizes early enthusiasm of female intelligence during the renaissance, and two incredibly valuable poems rely within her book, “Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum.” Lanyer claims the contents were “delivered unto her during sleep many years before,” and she bestows to her readers the poetic argument “Against Beauty Without virtue,” and also “Pilate’s Wife Apologizes For Eve.” These poems influenced not only the era in which Lanyer lived, but have held valuable notions related to present issues of feminism and women’s state in society. Layner’s execution of biblical analogies and views on morality and reason ultimately questioned the perspective on the enlightenment of women and their sensitivity to gender injustice during the renaissance.

Another key conflict that is pointed out through the volume, is that women were not given the same acknowledgments as men were given. This has and will always be a controversial topic as well. Unacknowledgement about the advances of women are clearly portrayed through prejudice in female philosophers and writers. This is clearly portrayed in the introduction: “The Unsex’d Females was, by naming and shaming, to firmly distinguish the virtuous lady writers of his

Views on women have changed throughout society drastically in many ways. But from the fifthteenth century to the mid seventeenth century in Europe, there were many documents produced regarding the place of women in society. During this time women could have been seen in a religious leader, humanist, early feminist perspective.

Genevieve Lloyd is an Australian philosopher and a feminist whose work can be described by one of her writings titled The Man of Reason. In this article, Lloyd demonstrates the maleness in philosophers’ concept “man of reason”. “By the man of reason,” she says, “I mean the ideal of rationality associated with the rationalist philosophies of the seventeenth century” and “our inheritance from the seventeenth century rationalism” (111). The purpose of the article is to show how the founding philosophers have shaped the meaning of reason and have excluded some components of reason; specifically women’s rationality. To begin, let’s first explore the meaning of reason. By nominal definition, in Merriam Webster dictionary, reason is defined as “to

An often controversial issue within politics is how woman are viewed and treated in the Hindu religion. The role of woman in Hinduism is often disputed and positions range from quite reasonable to highly antagonistic. An often overlooked aspect is that, Hinduism is more of a way of life then a Religion. This is because Hinduism requires that we see the same reality in all the diversity of creation; that we see the same Self in all beings. Hindu women within this religion would view themselves as an important part of the family, but this is not shown through the contents of the Manusmriti. The Manusmriti directly translated is “Laws of Manu,” or “Institutions of Manu,” is regarded as the foundational

It is again seen in Theories of Sex Difference, that the author, Whitbeck, makes no attempt to establish one definition of woman. Whitbeck examines how philosophers have historically examined and thus defined women from the male perspective as either a partial man or as the second aspect of opposite principles[1][1] (35). Finn’s On the Oppression of Women in Philosophy – Or, Whatever Happened to Objectivity? contains a syllogism that demonstrates that philosophy’s omission of women:

The role of women in the society is always questioned and for centuries, they have struggled to find their place in a world that is predominantly male oriented. The treatment of women was extremely negative; they were expected to stay home and fulfill domestic duties. Literature of that time embodies and mirrors social issues of women in society (Lecture on the Puritans). But, slowly and gradually, situation being changed: “During the first half of the 19th century, women 's roles in society evolved in the areas of occupational, moral, and social reform. Through efforts such as factory movements, social reform, and women 's rights, their aims were realized and foundations for further reform were established” (Lauter 1406). Feminist poets like Emily Dickinson and Anne Bradstreet talked substantially about feminism in different lights in the past two centuries. They were very vocal and assertive about their rights and the ‘rights for women’ in general. While they might have been successful at making a good attempt to obliterate gender biases but still there are lot of disparities between the two genders. Nevertheless, their poetry reflects a deep angst.