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Fall 2006
Volume 06, Number 1

Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy

Book Reviews

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Eight Women Philosophers: Theory, Politics, and Feminism

Jane Duran (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2006). 328 pp. $29.95. ISBN: 0-252-07265-0

Reviewed by Maurice Hamington
University of Southern Indiana, mhamington@usi.edu

In "Why So Few Women Philosophers?" historian Gerda Learner suggests that the dearth of women philosophers through the nineteenth century is due to the systemic educational disadvantage of women, material constraints, and the absence of a robust women’s history.1 According to Lerner, the history and works of women were often lost or discredited and therefore not available for subsequent women to access and build upon. It is indicative of the precarious position of feminist philosophy that it remains necessary to argue on behalf of the philosophical significance of historical women intellectuals. Feminist theorists continue to be marginalized in certain circles of philosophic thought, and yet, ironically, feminist philosophy is the engine driving some of the most original and transformative work in the field of philosophy. As Robin May Schott describes, although feminist philosophy originally sought rectifying the sexism in traditional philosophy, it "has developed into a field that is reflective about methodology in a way that contributes to making the field of the history of philosophy profoundly philosophical."2 Jane Duran’s Eight Women Philosophers: Theory, Politics, and Feminism reflects this kind of transformative contribution because in the process of retrieving her subjects, Hildegard of Bingen, Anne Conway, Mary Astell, Mary Wollstonecraft, Harriet Taylor Mill, Edith Stein, Simone Weil, and Simone de Beauvoir, fundamental questions about the nature, methods, and production of philosophy are explored.

A central aspect of Duran’s analysis is a comprehensive reflection on situatedness. She notes that the work of women philosophers has "been even more influenced by context on the whole than that of male philosophers" (11). The introduction to Eight Women Philosophers makes it clear that the book will not be encyclopedic presentations of eight independent figures but, rather, tightly woven accounts thematically integrated. Given this approach, I question Duran’s claim that "each chapter is itself a stand-alone work" (x) given that she constructs such a comprehensive comparative analysis. Of course, someone may benefit from reading individual chapters, but this book really should be read as a whole to fully appreciate the streams of examination that Duran runs throughout the text.

Diversity of writing style and genre raises the specter of inclusion—Who gets to be called a philosopher?—a recurrent theme for Duran and a strength of the book. Each of the eight chapters on women philosophers begins with an analysis of the historical figure’s status within philosophy. In some cases, the style and methodology of the thinker has led to her work being underappreciated in philosophy. Neither Hildegard who wrote in a visionary style (21), nor Astell whose political tracts relegated her to "pamphleteer" (77) have received philosophic acclaim. Duran does not merely report philosophical status but investigates the nature of such claims. She notes, for example, that if mystical genres were sufficient cause for ignoring the philosophical nature of Hildegard’s work, then a number of male philosophers should also be excluded (22). Questions of inclusion go to the heart of the definition of philosophy and have implications for whether the field will be robust and relevant or abstract and esoteric.

Every chapter also addresses the relationship of the writers to traditional philosophical categories and approaches. For example, Conway’s metaphysics posits a hierarchy of substances whereby God stands apart from creation and Christ holds a mediating position. Conway viewed the structure of creation as existing in a continuum of connection but each mingling both matter and spirit. In this manner, Conway avoided the problems faced by Descartes’ dualistic metaphysics (51-56), offering philosophy with a "fresh and original air" (52). Accordingly, Duran places each philosopher in conversation with the traditional categories of philosophy whether their work has been explicitly addressed as such or not. This process serves to validate or justify the work as philosophical or worthy of philosophical consideration, but one wonders about a more radical project of reconceptualizing the categories of philosophy.

Another strength of the book is Duran’s research into each figure’s intellectual colleagues and, in particular, women thinkers. In this manner, the reader is exposed to a number of lesser-known intellectuals that might provide serviceable subjects for further study. When addressing Wollstonecraft’s work, Duran introduces Catherine Macaulay, a historian who believed that there were no innate differences between men and women and who had a profound influence on Wollstonecraft (117-118). Better known is author George Eliot, a contemporary, although not an acquaintance, of Harriet Taylor Mill. Eliot and Mill shared a "concern about the individual in a cruel and uncaring world, and the notion that we all, as individuals, can help each other—we have the capacity to alleviate suffering" (149). These connections display the range of Duran’s research for Eight Women Philosophers, and, more importantly, they demonstrate that women philosophers are not individual disembodied voices but situated thinkers existing in a social context that included responding to other women thinkers.

Every philosopher’s work is plumbed for its resonance with contemporary feminist theory. Duran is even-handed in her approach and does not force a feminist characterization where it is not appropriate. While she describes Stein as writing on a number of topics of importance to feminist theory and practice, Duran acknowledges, "cast in today’s terms, Stein’s thought cannot truly be considered feminist…because of her reliance on Christian categorization" (179). Duran balances recognition of women’s experience given the gender constraints of a given historical period with an appreciation for language that empowers women through feminist theory and practice. The work of de Beauvoir has been thoroughly treated for its contemporary limitations and essentialist underpinnings. Duran recounts these claims, but she never veers far from recognizing the role of context: "Contemporary feminists who have seen The Second Sex only as a flawed precursor to later work are failing to view the work in its entirety" (238). It is perhaps more a tribute to what de Beauvoir set in motion that some of her analysis seems dated. In this manner, Duran fleshes out recent-day relevance for each figure’s work.

Duran thoughtfully problematizes numerous aspects of philosophical context including history, culture, worldview, and religion. One contextual consideration that Duran treats is the nature of philosophical collaboration. Part of the assumption of "philosophic voices from nowhere" is that individuals write theory in a social vacuum. This assumption is instantiated because history records names as forever tied to their work as the one and only "author." Throughout Eight Women Philosophers, and particularly in its conclusion, Duran addresses philosophic collaborations at length, a vital topic given the various connections found among the eight authors considered. Some of these collaborations are explicit and strong (de Beauvoir/Jean Paul Sartre and Harriet Taylor Mill/John Stuart Mill); others are more muted yet significant (Conway/Henry More). Such collaborations are "modes of inquiry that are different from those pursued by the standard, individual investigator" (255) and, while sometimes dictated by circumstance, they point to an alternative feminist approach that valorizes the power of collective philosophic creation.

Duran also continually identifies themes of resonance and difference among her eight subjects. This is both a strength and a weakness. On the one hand, comparing the various figures, even over the span of 900 years, makes for a richer understanding of each. On the other hand, I was left wondering why these particular eight philosophers. Duran constructs such an integrated whole that one could see the beginnings of a counter-canon: Who gets in the feminist philosophy club? Accordingly, and at the risk of appearing facile, I also wonder if women of color could have been included in this project. Duran addresses the ethnic and class mix of the philosophers considered but, given that this project sought to retrieve the intellectual work of women as philosophers, it would seem plausible to extend it to those marginalized by race. Perhaps this is the task of another project.

Overall, Eight Women Philosophers is an insightful exercise in applying feminist theory and methodology, not merely as analysis of history but because of its implications for the present. Duran recognizes that there is an "unfortunate truth" that over a half century after de Beauvoir declared that "being different from man, who sets himself up as the same, it is naturally to the category of the Other that woman is consigned"3 that feminist projects of retrieval must continue (268); nevertheless, the process is well worth it. All who are interested in the history of feminist philosophy should read Eight Women Philosophers, and it makes an excellent text for upper division undergraduate or graduate level feminist philosophy or feminist theory courses.

Endnotes

1. Gerda Lerner. "Why Have There Been So Few Women Philosophers?" In Presenting Women Philosophers, edited by Cecile T. Tougas and Sara Ebenreck (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2000), 9.

2. Robin May Schott. Discovering Feminist Philosophy: Knowledge, Ethics, Politics (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), 40.

3. Simone de Beauvoir. The Second Sex, trans. H. M. Parshley (New York: Vintage Books, 1989), 69.

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