Blackwell Reference Online

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In the past twenty years or more, feminism has influenced the history of philosophy in numerous ways. Feminist scholars, such as Genevieve Lloyd, Michèle Le Doeuff, Luce Irigaray, Prudence Allen, Andrea Nye, Nancy Tuana, Elizabeth Spelman, Penelope Deutscher, Moira Gatens, and Karen Green, have examined the changing conceptions of woman's nature, and of the feminine gender and its exclusions, in the history of western philosophy. The contributors to Feminism and Ancient Philosophy , edited by Julie Ward, and to Engendering Origins: Critical Feminist Readings in Plato and Aristotle , edited by Bat-Ami Bar On, have brought feminist perspectives to bear upon their readings of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Lucretius, and the Stoics. The Re-Reading the Canon series, published by The Pennsylvania State University Press, under the editorship of Nancy Tuana, has offered individual volumes of feminist essays, each devoted to reinterpretating the work of a single major thinker, such as Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard, or Nietzsche. Some scholars have used feminism as a lens through which to re-examine classic ethical theories, e.g., those of Aristotle, Hume, and Kant. Among these scholars are Nancy Sherman, Annette Baier, Robin May Schott, and Barbara Herman, to name just a few. Feminists such as Carolyn Merchant and Evelyn Fox Keller have challenged the standard ... log in or subscribe to read full text