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contrast to many previous feminist interpretations of Aristotle, which
found much to disparage and little to salvage in his philosophy, the
contributors to this volume enter into new, creative, and subtle dimensions
of inquiry about Aristotle. They look more deeply into his influence
and question the possibility of escape from it.
Feminists recognize that they too philosophize within the tradition
founded by Plato and Aristotle and owe the Greeks a debt. Aristotle
still influences our abstract thinking, search for principles, meditations
on virtue, and reflections on nature, essence, and sexual difference.
As critics of modernism and liberalism in our day, some feminists
seek significant alternatives in the classical era while eschewing
ancient sexism.
From the essays in this volume, which are divided into two parts,
"Theoretical Sciences" and "Practical and Productive Sciences,"
reflecting the traditional structure of works in the Aristotelian
corpus, we learn not only about Aristotle but about a new feminist
methodology in approaching major contemporary issues such as surrogate
motherhood and women in the military. We also find a new perspective
on feminist debates over whether logic is gendered, the advantages
of an "ethics of care," feminist epistemology, and the nature of
critical feminist spectatorship. |
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