A World Without Women: The Christian Clerical Culture of Western Science

by David F. Noble

Why did Western science become a male-dominated enterprise? Philosopher Sandra Harding notes "women have been more systematically excluded from doing serious science than performing any other social activity except, perhaps, frontline warfare." A World Without Women provides a full-scale investigation of the origins & implications of the masculine culture of Western science & technology, & in the process offers some revelations. Noble begins by showing that, contrary to common notions that the culture of learning in the West has always excluded women--an assumption based on the supposed legacy of ancient Greece--men didn't thoroughly dominate intellectual life until the start of the 2nd millennium of the Xian era. At this time science & the practices of higher learning became the province of the newly celibate Xian clergy, whose ascetic culture denied women a place in scholarly enterprise. By the 12th century, papal reform movements had all but swept away the material & ideological supports of future female participation in the world of learning. As never before, women were outside looking in. He further demonstrates that the clerical legacy of a world without women remained mostly intact thru the Reformation, permeating the emergant culture of science. He finally points to a dread of women at the core of modern scientific & technological enterprise, as these disciplines work to deprive half of humanity of its role in production (as seen in the Industrial Revolution's male appropriation of labor) & reproduction (the age-old quest for an artificial womb). It also makes plain the hypocrisy of a community that honors a female scientist with a bronze bust, as England's Royal Society did for Mary Somerville in the mid-19th century, yet denies her entry to its hall. A disturbing book, A World Without Women is essential reading for anyone concerned about the world of science & the world science has made.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1/A World with Women
Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, Wives
Revivals
2/A World Without Women
Saints: The Ascent of Clerical Asceticism
Fathers: Patristic Anxiety to Papal Agenda
Brothers: The Militarization of Monasticism
Priests: The Monasticization of the Church
Bachelors: The Scholastic Cloister
3/Science
Revelation in Nature
The Scientific Restoration
Women in a World Without Women
Epilogue
Notes
Index
Permissions Acknowledgments

Genres: History, Science, Religion, Christianity, Anthropology, Nonfiction, History Of Science

350 pages, Hardcover

First published April 28, 1992

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

David Franklin Noble was a critical historian of technology, science and education.

Reviews

[Kurt · Rating 5 out of 5]

AI is Revealed as Inherently Misogynistic

This book reads like Marx, for those who would avoid it for this characteristic. Like Marx it is filled with profound revelations about the society around us. Not that the powerful are listening. They are too busy making replacements for women.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a bit academic, but it's fascinating. I knew nothing about the history of the early church. I am now flabbergasted that there is even one woman who is catholic. The entire religion was formed in opposition to women. I'll definitely be blogging about this one.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected much more history of science than this book contained. The first 150-200 pages are a history of monasticism and various Christian sects. Interesting, but totally not what I wanted out of it.

[Lolotehe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little slow to start, but interesting history.

[Mustafa Alnasery · Rating 4 out of 5]

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