The Flight to Objectivity: Essays on Cartesianism and Culture

by Susan Bordo

The Flight to Objectivity offers a new reading of Descartes' Meditations informed by cultural history, psychoanalytic and cognitive psychology, and feminist thought. It focuses not on Descartes' arguments as "timeless," culturally disembodied events, but on the psychological drama and imagery of the Meditations explored in the context of the historical instability of the seventeenth century and deep historical changes in the structure of human experience.

The study includes textual and cultural material that together comprise a gradually unfolding psychocultural reading of the Meditations. Descartes' famous doubt, and the ideal of objectivity which conquered that doubt, are considered as philosophical expressions of a cultural "drama of parturition" from the medieval universe, a process that generated new forms of experience, new cultural anxieties, and ultimately, new strategies for control and mastery of an utterly changed and alien world. Themes that figure prominently in recent literature on seventeenth-century philosophy and science--the birth of the mind as "mirror of nature," and the "masculine" nature of modern science, the "death of nature"--are explored with reference to Descartes as a pivotal figure in the birth of modernity.

"This is cultural history at its best. The topic is of greatest philosophical and cultural importance. It will be a major contribution to a feminist epistemology." -- Patrick Hill

"The book is an original and imaginative treatment of the Cartesian bequest. It is well written, intelligent, and exciting in implication. The author has an excellent grasp of the necessary texts and she has interwoven a series of creative and fascinating themes, seldom if ever pursued in Cartesian studies. This book is in the tradition of culturally interpretive works and should take its place among the most imaginative reconstructions of the Cartesian era." -- John J. McDermott, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Texas A & M University

Genres: Philosophy, Essays, Feminism, History

160 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1987

About the author

Susan Bordo is known for the clarity, accessibility, and contemporary relevance of her writing. Her first book, The Flight to Objectivity, has become a classic of feminist philosophy. In 1993, increasingly aware of our culture's preoccupation with weight and body image, she published Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body, a book that is still widely read and assigned in classes today. During speaking tours for that book, she encountered many young men who asked, "What about us?" The result was The Male Body: A New Look at Men in Public and in Private (1999). Both books were highly praised by reviewers, with Unbearable Weight named a 1993 Notable Book by the New York Times and The Male Body featured in Mademoiselle, Elle, Vanity Fair, NPR, and MSNBC. Both books have been translated into many languages, and individual chapters, many of which are considered paradigms of lucid writing, are frequently re-printed in collections and writing textbooks. The Creation of Anne Boleyn: A New Look at England's Most Notorious Queen, was published to critical acclaim by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in April, 2013. The Destruction of Hillary Clinton followed in 2017. She lives in Lexington, Kentucky with her husband, daughter, three dogs, a cat, and a cockatiel.

Bordo received her Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1982. She recently retired from her position as Otis A. Singletary Chair in the Humanities and Professor of Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Kentucky.

Reviews

[matthew harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would agree with other reviewers that this small book is a great primer for anyone wishing to understand why the early modern period swung so heavily towards the Cartesian worldview and how that worldview and the modern scientific model is dominated by a masculine outlook. It's also an interesting history on the Medieval mindset (I had just finished reading Hans Umbrecht's book on Presence cultures and Bordo's narrative dovetailed with Umbrecht's quite nicely, so there's that to read if you're interested) While Bordo's use of Piaget's developmental psychology was interesting, I'm not sure that it was a necessary device as she ends up critiquing Piaget's model as being thoroughly invested in a Western mindset. I appreciated the recommendation for a dynamic objectivity that Bordo champions in the final chapter of her book.

[Jody · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone interested in philosophy, science, and psychology. The author traces the evolution of our current emphasis on "objective" and "rational" thought as an attempt to control the "separation anxiety" caused by losing the sense of being connected to the world.