Mary Astell: Theorist of Freedom from DominationPhilosopher, theologian, educational theorist, feminist and political pamphleteer, Mary Astell was an important figure in the history of ideas of the early modern period. Among the first systematic critics of John Locke's entire corpus, she is best known for the famous question which prefaces her Reflections on Marriage: 'If all men are born free, how is it that all women are born slaves?' She is claimed by modern Republican theorists and feminists alike but, as a Royalist High Church Tory, the peculiar constellation of her views sits uneasily with modern commentators. Patricia Springborg's study addresses these apparent paradoxes, recovering the historical and philosophical contexts to her thought. She shows that Astell was not alone in her views; rather, she was part of a cohort of early modern women philosophers who were important for the reception of Descartes and who grappled with the existential problems of a new age. |
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Page viii
... Hobbes , Locke and Contractarianism 122 5. Astell's Critique of Contractarianism 127 6. Astell's Reflections upon Marriage , a Critique of Customary Right 130 7. Astell and Milton 135 4 Mary Astell and the Settlement of 1689 143 1 ...
... Hobbes , Locke and Contractarianism 122 5. Astell's Critique of Contractarianism 127 6. Astell's Reflections upon Marriage , a Critique of Customary Right 130 7. Astell and Milton 135 4 Mary Astell and the Settlement of 1689 143 1 ...
Page 5
... Hobbesian and Filmerian notion of freedom as the power ' to do as one lists ' , and in favour of the classical notion of freedom as the power to erect a principle of action and follow ... Hobbes and Locke tended Astell , Locke and Feminism 5.
... Hobbesian and Filmerian notion of freedom as the power ' to do as one lists ' , and in favour of the classical notion of freedom as the power to erect a principle of action and follow ... Hobbes and Locke tended Astell , Locke and Feminism 5.
Page 8
... Hobbes and Locke - a notion against which Plato was among the first to campaign in his rebuttal of Thrasymachus in the Republic . 18 But to little avail ; the sophist notion that Thrasymachus represents , of politics as structured by a ...
... Hobbes and Locke - a notion against which Plato was among the first to campaign in his rebuttal of Thrasymachus in the Republic . 18 But to little avail ; the sophist notion that Thrasymachus represents , of politics as structured by a ...
Page 9
... Hobbes , in describing the relentless anarchy of the war of all against all as the perpetual threat to peace and security outside state boundaries , pro- vided Schmitt with a model for the logic of anarchy within . Extrapolating from ...
... Hobbes , in describing the relentless anarchy of the war of all against all as the perpetual threat to peace and security outside state boundaries , pro- vided Schmitt with a model for the logic of anarchy within . Extrapolating from ...
Page 15
... Hobbes's own attack on the Cartesian beast - machine in the opening lines of the Preface to Leviathan , but to very different ends.45 Far from condoning the argument of last resort to which Hobbes and Locke appeal to justify the power ...
... Hobbes's own attack on the Cartesian beast - machine in the opening lines of the Preface to Leviathan , but to very different ends.45 Far from condoning the argument of last resort to which Hobbes and Locke appeal to justify the power ...
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