The Philosophical Imaginary [Hardcover]

Michele Le Doeuff (Author), Colin Gordon (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0804716196 | ISBN-13: 978-0804716192 | Publication Date: June 1, 1990 | Edition: 1

This text presents a discussion of the relationship between sexualtiy and epistemology. It analyses the ways in which philosphers conceive of women and how their masculine concepts of women enter philsophy. Alongside this critique of philosophy as its is practised, the author articulates a philsophy of feminism which sees feminism as truly philosophical and liberating to the conventional and traditional practice of "male" philosophy.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Le Doeuff dares to challenge the idea that philosophy can be separated from myth, literature and 'the image.' She shows not only that philosophers do 'think in images', but that there exists a specifically 'philosophical imaginary'. Her readings of Descartes, Kant, More and others show how acknowledging this reliance on 'the image' has the capacity to enrich philosophy by opening it up to continuities with everyday life. The manner in which these essays treat important ethical, epistemological and political questions has led the way for the radical reform of the practice of philosophy." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Product Details

• Hardcover: 212 pages
• Publisher: Stanford University Press; 1 edition (June 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804716196
• ISBN-13: 978-0804716192
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,457,764 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Philosophy on the move, August 7, 2011

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Max Deutscher "MaxD" (Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Philosophical Imaginary (Athlone Contemporary European Thinkers) (Paperback)

This was the first of Le Doeuff's books (Recherches sur L'imaginaire philosophique, 1980) to be published in English (The Philosophical Imaginary 1989). Those with a feminist interest may have come upon only her more recent work, L'etude et le rouet (translated as 'Hipparchia's Choice', 1991) and Le sexe du savoir (translated as The sex of knowing, 2003).

What Le Doeuff did in 1980 still comes across as very fresh and to the point of controversies about the possibilities of philosophy. She goes right to the heart of our doubts about and derogation of the status of images -- and more importantly, operative systems of imagery - in philosophy. The title (The Philosophical Imaginary) itself is a milestone if you are looking for an alternative to philosophy as a mill-stone. You find here some of the makings of a precise and rigorous philosophy that works in counterpoint to analytical philosophy's ideals of the 'literal', 'explicit', 'no-stone-unturned' and 'no-word'unsaid'. (It is set at an even greater distance from the hermetic 'profundity' of a Heidegger or Levinas.)

In contrast with the inbred culture of analytical philosophy you might read something 'deconstructive' about the way the text works by close reading of one kind of text against another. She could hardly be further from Derrida, however, when it comes to the way she works. The style is terse, quick and economical. You can't stop a broad smile at the title of the preface piece - 'The Shameful Face of Philosophy'. 'The nerve of the woman!' blurts the traditionalist exposed in its sexism. But surely traditionalism made to laugh at itself while being coloured in with new shades and moods is traditionalism being transcended in the act.

Le Doeuff's work is 'beyond (the) good and evil' of moralising, and yet nowhere near nihilism or cynicism either. She is intelligent - canny with a sharp jibe. What she shows is that with spirit, fine thought and a free vocabulary you can go right into the den of the past tradition, paint sketches, bring back trophies and adventurers' tales and write in a way that is free of the past while being informed about and by it.