Revisioning the Political: Feminist Reconstructions of Traditional Concepts in Western Political Theory

by Nancy J. Hirschmann, Christine Di Stefano (Editor)

Feminist scholars have been remaking the landscape in political theory, and in this important book some of the most important feminist political theorists provide reconstructions of those concepts most central to the tradition of political philosophy. The goal is nothing less than the construction of a blueprint for a positive feminist theory.Many of these papers are completely new; others are extensions of important earlier work; two are reprints of classic papers. The result is a progress report on the continuing feminist project to re-envision traditional political theory. As such, it constitutes essential reading not only for feminist thinkers but also for traditional philosophers and political theorists, who will need to come to terms with these contemporary critiques and re-readings.

Genres: Feminism, Philosophy

306 pages, Paperback

First published October 8, 1996

About the author

Nancy Hirschmann is a Professor of Politics at the University of Pennsylvania. Her specialties are the history of political thought, analytical philosophy, feminist theory, disability theory, and the intersection of political theory and public policy.

Reviews

[Meg]

Includes pieces by Zillah Eisenstein and Iris Marion Young. I found one essay, "Privacy, Publicity, and Power: A Feminist Rethinking of the Public-Private Distinction" (by Martha Ackelsberg and Mary Lyndon Shanley) particularly helpful for a paper I wrote for my American legal history course - it provided an easy and useful framework for interpreting the many judicial decisions that heavily utilize the 14th amendment.