Queenly Philosophers: Renaissance Women Aristocrats as Platonic Guardians

by Jane Duran

Recent work on the Platonic notion of the Guardian has focused on the female Guardian, or “Philosopher Queen,” but mainly insofar as the idea is problematic. Okin, Saxonhouse, and others have tried to be more precise about the concepts involved—this work aims to use actual publications by British and continentally-trained women aristocrats of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to fill in the lacunae. It is concluded that these women were not only philosophical thinkers, but in some sense Guardians. Their overview encompassed notions of duty, care, and a concern of the development of the intellectual life that left a mark for future generations.

294 pages, Hardcover

Published September 20, 2017

About the author

Lecturer in the Department of Black Studies. She received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Rutgers in 1982. She has published four books in epistemology and feminist theory, and is currently working on the development of the Black aesthetic, and the intersection of Black women's theory with feminist thought. In addition, she has a continuing interest in Marxism and Black theory. Her latest publication is entitled Philosophies of Science; Feminist Theories.

(from http://www.blackstudies.ucsb.edu/peop...)