Queenly Philosophers

Renaissance Women Aristocrats as Platonic Guardians

By: Jane Duran

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eText | 20 September 2017 | Edition Number 1

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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.

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This new work on woman philosophers presents a major contribution to the literature. Little work having been done previously on these particular women as philosophers, this work enlightens its audience not only about the works of these five women but about the world of England in the 16^th and 17^th centuries. Through careful analyses of the works, through making clear the environment in which the works were written, and through making clear the necessity of having access to the court, either by being aristocrats themselves or by association—this text contributes to the understanding of these particular philosophers and their works and to the history of women writing philosophy as well as to a more comprehensive understanding of the history of philosophy than now exists.