The philosophy of Mary Astell : an early modern theory of virtue /
Mary Astell (1666-1731) is best known today as one of the earliest English feminists. She is also known as a Tory political pamphleteer, an Anglican apologist, an eloquent rhetorician and an educational theorist. In this book, Jacqueline Broad interprets Astell first and foremost as a moral philosop...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Oxford ; New York :
Oxford University Press,
2015.
|
| Edition: | First edition. |
| Subjects: |
| Summary: | Mary Astell (1666-1731) is best known today as one of the earliest English feminists. She is also known as a Tory political pamphleteer, an Anglican apologist, an eloquent rhetorician and an educational theorist. In this book, Jacqueline Broad interprets Astell first and foremost as a moral philosopher, or as someone committed to providing guidance on how best to live and how to attain happiness. The central claim of this work is that all the different strands of Astell's thought, her theory of knowledge, her metaphysics, her philosophy of the passions, her feminist vision and her conservative political views, are best understood in light of her ethical objectives. To demonstrate this, Broad examines Astell's major writings and traces her program to bring about a moral transformation of character in her fellow women. This program draws on several key aspects of seventeenth-century philosophy, including Cartesian and Neoplatonist epistemologies, proofs for the existence of God, arguments for the immaterial soul and theories about how to regulate the passions in accordance with reason. |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | vi, 205 pages ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages [185]-200) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780198716815 0198716818 |