Diotima at the barricades : French feminists read Plato /
This book argues that a key element of postmodern French intellectual life is the reception of Plato. Much of the philosophical dialogue that structured postmodern modern French philosophy can be traced through a series of exchanges on the nature and importance of classical antiquity in general and...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford :
Oxford University Press,
[2016]
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| Edition: | First edition. |
| Series: | Classics in theory.
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | This book argues that a key element of postmodern French intellectual life is the reception of Plato. Much of the philosophical dialogue that structured postmodern modern French philosophy can be traced through a series of exchanges on the nature and importance of classical antiquity in general and Plato in particular. In their original form, these debates involved complex, structured, and reciprocal exchanges on the interpretation and position of Plato and other ancient texts in the Western philosophical and literary tradition. They were often mediated through discussions of Nietzsche, Heidegger, Freud, and Marx as well. This book offers detailed and theoretically informed readings of three of French postmodernism's most important female thinkers: Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray, and Sarah Kofman. As the argument unfolds, it becomes clear not only that their knowledge of Plato is broad and detailed, but also that their understanding of those texts was central to their theoretical projects and the debates that animated them. Moreover, they are engaged in a complex multifaceted dialogue concerning these texts, both with themselves and with their male counterparts, most notably Jacques Derrida, Jacques Lacan, and Michel Foucault. Diotima, Plato's most prominent female speaker, comes to serve as an emblem of these thinkers' complex and militant feminist labor in the context of post-1968 France |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (xvi, 314 pages) |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references. |
| ISBN: | 9780191811470 0191811475 9780191065668 0191065668 |