Astell, Mary - Cynthia B. Bryson (essay date 1998)
Cynthia B. Bryson (essay date 1998)
SOURCE: Bryson, Cynthia B. “Mary Astell: Defender of the ‘Disembodied Mind’.” Hypatia 13, No. 4 (Fall 1998): 40-62.
[In following essay, Bryson argues that Astell's version of Cartesian dualism, her criticism of John Locke's theories, and her importance as a political theorist and metaphysician demonstrate the reasons why she has been declared the first English feminist.]
“Mr. Duffy lived a short distance from his body.”
James Joyce, Ulysses
There has been a recent growing interest in the political and philosophical theorizing of late-Medieval and Renaissance women writers.1 The late seventeenth century's Mary Astell has been deemed by many present-day philosophers and historians to be the first female English feminist.2 While she may or may not have in fact been the first English feminist (as Bridget Hill has identified...
[The entire page is 11661 words long]
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