What do you think?
Rate this book
The Thinking Muse: Feminism and Modern French Philosophy
"... some very serious critiques of French existential phenomenology and post-structuralism... the contributors offer some refreshingly new insights into some tried and 'true' philosophical texts and more recent works of literary theory." -- Philosophy and Literature"By bridging the gap between 'analytic' and 'continental' philosophy, the authors of The Thinking Feminism and the Modern French Philosophy largely overcome the cultural polarity between 'male thinker' and 'female muse'." -- Ethics"These engaging essays by American Feminists bring toether feminist philosophy, existential phenomenology, and recent currents in French poststructuralist thought. The editors provide an excellent introductory overview, making this an ideal book for courses in feminist theory and philosophy and modern French thought." -- Philosopher's Index"The concerns raised in this volume are substantial.... a solid addition to the canon of American feminist philosophy." -- Philosophy and Literature"... a forum for feminist appropriations of existential and post-structuralist philosophy." -- Canadian Philosophical ReviewsMarking a radical shift in the traditional philosophical separation between muse (female) and thinker (male), The Thinking Muse revises the scope and methods of philosophical reflection. These engaging essays by American feminists bring together feminist philosophy, existential phenomenology, and recent currents in French poststructuralist thought.
- GenresFeminism
215 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
48 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 31, 2025
This book tries to navigate the space and history of philosophical styles of various feminist thinkers in the 20th century where above all a feminist perspective is taken. Meaning, a lot of the philosophical themes are studied from the vantage point of women where undoubtedly there is a lot of weaving together notions about how women were viewed in society. The book thus comprises various essays which are written by feminist scholars where each essay explores a theme within feminist French philosophy. Of course, the themes can be extended to all of philosophy and many of the observations have a place in various societal and cultural settings. It also does well to analyze our current society where much of the existing power relations between the sexes remain the same.
A bit begrudgingly the selection of focus regarding feminist writers in this book is rather small, where above all Simone de Beauvoir, Sartre, Camus and Foucault take center stage for large portions of the book. I would have therefore like the book to explore more unknown voices and figures within say french postmodernism , existentialism as well as perhaps extending the scope of the book to include material on more recent philosophers say past the 80's and onward. Oh well! (
Some highlights of the book include discussing the various physical differences in aspects about how men and women are treated in society. For instance, if we devote our attention to prepubescent boys and girls then there is on average no large strength gap between boys and girls, but girls are inherently none the less treated according to strong gender roles. More specifically, one of the essay authors in the book makes the case that the very way we approach an object differs between boys and girls , where the tendency among boys is to approach the object with an intention to manipulate the force of an object, furthermore to extend the notion of immediate direct contact. Contrast this with the way girls approach objects which is a lot more restrained where there seems to be an inherent socially constructed hesitancy in terms of taking control of the object. The example of throwing a baseball is used as an example in the book where the author (from the essay 'throwing like a girl' by Iris Marion Young) remarks that historically, previous writers thought to explain the difference between girls and boys throwing a ball due to reductionist physical explanations such as girls having inferior coordination, strength to that of boys. Thus, Young concludes that there is placed an overemphasis on strength between sex roles where a large part of the differences in performance can be explained by the way each sex uses the body in approaching the task at hand. That is, how one approaches an object to be manipulated.
Some other remarks in the book explore treating eroticism as pertaining to a strong form of desire and exploring this desire from our conscious being instead of treating eroticism as a primitive, mammalian reflex. Foucault analysis of power and hegemony also become relevant here as one explores sex from the perspective of power relations between men and women. Other essays touch upon to various degrees how women are socially constructed within our society historically which forms in turn strong expectations of norms to be fulfilled in different capacities between the different sexes. The sexual gaze and its relation to women is also touched upon in relation with Sartre's philosophy. More specifically, how the gaze annihilates freedom from the individual who is being looked upon where the female is in turn disproportionately objectified contrasted in general with men. Sex is therefore, being constantly reproduced in our society on the one hand and on the other is in our modern society deployed in terms of power.
In all nothing to groundbreaking in terms of feminist themes explored in the book in terms of originality, but it does well in touching upon various more general themes both from existentialism to postmodernism as brought forward by french thinkers. This also explains I guess why I did not take too many notes or highlighted much of the text as I read it. I think also the book serves well for those not too versed in philosophy and feminism as it reads as not too overly academic where the latter is often case with postmodernist writers such as Foucault to name one example.
(Note: I don't like the star rating and as such I only rate books based upon one star or five stars corresponding to the in my opinion preferable rating system of thumbs up/down. This later rating system increases in my humble opinion the degree to which the reader is likely to engage with a review instead of merely glancing at the number of stars of a given book.)
A bit begrudgingly the selection of focus regarding feminist writers in this book is rather small, where above all Simone de Beauvoir, Sartre, Camus and Foucault take center stage for large portions of the book. I would have therefore like the book to explore more unknown voices and figures within say french postmodernism , existentialism as well as perhaps extending the scope of the book to include material on more recent philosophers say past the 80's and onward. Oh well! (
Some highlights of the book include discussing the various physical differences in aspects about how men and women are treated in society. For instance, if we devote our attention to prepubescent boys and girls then there is on average no large strength gap between boys and girls, but girls are inherently none the less treated according to strong gender roles. More specifically, one of the essay authors in the book makes the case that the very way we approach an object differs between boys and girls , where the tendency among boys is to approach the object with an intention to manipulate the force of an object, furthermore to extend the notion of immediate direct contact. Contrast this with the way girls approach objects which is a lot more restrained where there seems to be an inherent socially constructed hesitancy in terms of taking control of the object. The example of throwing a baseball is used as an example in the book where the author (from the essay 'throwing like a girl' by Iris Marion Young) remarks that historically, previous writers thought to explain the difference between girls and boys throwing a ball due to reductionist physical explanations such as girls having inferior coordination, strength to that of boys. Thus, Young concludes that there is placed an overemphasis on strength between sex roles where a large part of the differences in performance can be explained by the way each sex uses the body in approaching the task at hand. That is, how one approaches an object to be manipulated.
Some other remarks in the book explore treating eroticism as pertaining to a strong form of desire and exploring this desire from our conscious being instead of treating eroticism as a primitive, mammalian reflex. Foucault analysis of power and hegemony also become relevant here as one explores sex from the perspective of power relations between men and women. Other essays touch upon to various degrees how women are socially constructed within our society historically which forms in turn strong expectations of norms to be fulfilled in different capacities between the different sexes. The sexual gaze and its relation to women is also touched upon in relation with Sartre's philosophy. More specifically, how the gaze annihilates freedom from the individual who is being looked upon where the female is in turn disproportionately objectified contrasted in general with men. Sex is therefore, being constantly reproduced in our society on the one hand and on the other is in our modern society deployed in terms of power.
In all nothing to groundbreaking in terms of feminist themes explored in the book in terms of originality, but it does well in touching upon various more general themes both from existentialism to postmodernism as brought forward by french thinkers. This also explains I guess why I did not take too many notes or highlighted much of the text as I read it. I think also the book serves well for those not too versed in philosophy and feminism as it reads as not too overly academic where the latter is often case with postmodernist writers such as Foucault to name one example.
(Note: I don't like the star rating and as such I only rate books based upon one star or five stars corresponding to the in my opinion preferable rating system of thumbs up/down. This later rating system increases in my humble opinion the degree to which the reader is likely to engage with a review instead of merely glancing at the number of stars of a given book.)
March 7, 2010
good, but a bit dated.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews