Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Mary Astell
  • Cited by 35
      • Show more authors
      • You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Select format
    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      07 September 2009
      05 December 2005
      ISBN:
      9780511499203
      9780521841047
      9781107407558
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511499203
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.655kg, 396 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (229 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.58kg, 396 Pages
      • Subjects:
      Early Modern Philosophy, Philosophy
    You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Selected: Digital
    Add to cart View cart Buy from Cambridge.org
    Subjects:
    Early Modern Philosophy, Philosophy
    Information

    Book description

    Philosopher, 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.

    Reviews

    "Patricia Springborg is to be commended for having done the most work on that scintillating political thinker, Mary Astell, and having done it with superlatively high standards."
    -Jane Duran, University of Santa Barbara

    "In this book, which draws on her earlier publications, [Springborg] works to insert Astell into the canon writ large, presenting an engaging picture of the relevant social, historical and political contexts. She is particularly adept at isolating moments of philosophical dispute, explaining the views, pressures, and goals of the individual players and re-dramatizing the debates, attending to both the rhetoric and logic of argument."
    -Alice Sowaal, Journal of the History of Philosophy

    "It remains[...]that Springborg's research played-and with this book, will continue to play-a crucial part in igniting sophisticated critical debate about Astell's writings[...]Springborg has performed an inestimable service for Astell studies and for the study of early modern women philosophers in general."
    -Jacqueline Broad, Monash University, American Historical Review

    Refine List

    Actions for selected content:

    Select all | Deselect all
    • View selected items
    • Export citations
    • Download PDF (zip)
    • Save to Kindle
    • Save to Dropbox
    • Save to Google Drive

    Save Search

    You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

    Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
    Cancel
    ×

    Contents

    Contents

    Metrics

    Full text views

    Total number of HTML views: 0
    Total number of PDF views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    Book summary page views

    Total views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    * Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

    Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

    Accessibility standard: Unknown

    Why this information is here

    This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

    Accessibility Information

    Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.