The Moral Sex: Woman's Nature in the French Enlightenment [Paperback]

Lieselotte Steinbrďż1/2gge (Author), Pamela E. Selwyn (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 10, 1995

This book deals with a question that currently has a great deal of resonance among historians, feminists, and literary scholars: How was the nature of women redefined and debated during the French Enlightenment? Instead of treating the Enlightenment in the usual manner, as a challenge to orthodox ideas and social conventions, Lieselotte Steinbr�gge interprets it as a deviation from a position staked out in the seventeenth century, namely, "the mind has no sex." In breaking with that view, the philosophes shifted the debate to categories like morality and sensitivity and took up economic issues as well. They inadvertently backed women into the corner of domesticity, where middle-class women remained for some time to come.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...takes us elegantly and intelligently through the now familiar eighteenth-century guerelle des femmes....Her sparkling analyses focus on the question of morality and the place of compassion in a competitive society."--American Historical Review

"This short but dense book requires and deserves careful reading..."--The Historian

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (August 10, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019509493X
• ISBN-13: 978-0195094930
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,972,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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