Hipparchia's Choice: An Essay Concerning Women, Philosophy, Etc. [Hardcover]

Michele Le Doeuff (Author), Trista Selous (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 063117639X | ISBN-13: 978-0631176398 | Publication Date: October 1991

Is the history of philosophy the history of masculine texts and male problems? Is the position of women in philosophy a question of exclusion by men rather than, as some suggest, of a hypothetically immanent femininity"? Is "The Second Sex" a work of philosophy and what can it teach us about the relation of philosophy to experience? How to be a woman philosopher, and a conceptually adventurous woman is a question which dissolves distinctions between biography, history, politics and philosophy. Michele le Doeuff takes on the history of philosophy to question its gender and to question the social and legislative conclusions to which its formulations have led us. In four parts, "Hipparchia's Choice" is a work of rare irreverance and unimpeachable seriousness. It points the way to a philosophy accountable to history, to feminism, to society and to intelligibility.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Informally ordered yet tightly argued, Hipparchia's Choice ranges from brief close readings of Aristotle and Husserl to investigation of local 1970s French campaigns for reproductive rights and educational equality, with lengthy (but never self-indulgent) biographical and autobiographical digressions, always in search of the solid ground of shared political realism.

(Meryl Altman Women's Review of Books Vol 24, Issue 1 Winter 2009)

To see Hipparchia's Choice simply as an excellent feminist text is not enough: the point is that it is also excellent philosophy.... Le Doeuff's book is a challenge to what has rapidly become the received wisdom of a large section of Western feminism.

(Toril Moi Times Literary Supplement )

Hipparchia's Choice is a book to be picked up again and again... it will keep encouraging its readers fully to engage in philosophy, critically and intelligently.

(Marije Altor Literature & Theology )

A testimony to the continuing importance of Michele Le Doeuff's groundbreaking work... Selous's translation gives a sparkling rendition of the text.

(Margaret Sankey, University of Sydney MLR )

A rare and inspiring work of philosophy in that it is scrupulous in argumentation and a great pleasure to read.

(Marguerite La Caze Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy ) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Review

Your book is a joy. It has a strength which permeates its every tone of voice. You are renewing the whole problem of thought, tracking down a distinctively masculine cogito. Already you are sketching the outline of a thought which would be free from such constraints, and estimating its cost. I admire your book and am impatient for the next one. Think of me as someone close to you and be assured, if you will, of my friendship.

(Gilles Deleuze ) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Blackwell Pub (October 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 063117639X
• ISBN-13: 978-0631176398
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,483,098 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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