Revisiting Benito Jerónimo Feijoo’s “Defence of women” (1726)
Bolufer-Peruga, Mónica
Revisiting Benito Jerónimo Feijoo’s “Defence of women” (1726) - 2016.
96
This paper revisits the work of the Spanish Enlightenment thinker Benito Jerónimo Feijoo (1676-1764) on gender difference and equality. ?It does so in the light both of renewed scholarly interest in this writer and of the new perspectives opened up by recent historiographical contributions on the “querelle des femmes”. Feijoo is often presented as a solitary hero, “ahead of his time”, but analysis of his thought in its social, intellectual and political context, both Spanish and European, allows us to challenge this view. On the contrary, his ideas were developed in a critical dialogue both with his predecessors and his contemporaries, notably with women authors who had defended the equality of the sexes. Not exempt from ambiguities and paradoxes, his writings were part of a lively and ongoing debate and were passionately read and discussed.
Revisiting Benito Jerónimo Feijoo’s “Defence of women” (1726) - 2016.
96
This paper revisits the work of the Spanish Enlightenment thinker Benito Jerónimo Feijoo (1676-1764) on gender difference and equality. ?It does so in the light both of renewed scholarly interest in this writer and of the new perspectives opened up by recent historiographical contributions on the “querelle des femmes”. Feijoo is often presented as a solitary hero, “ahead of his time”, but analysis of his thought in its social, intellectual and political context, both Spanish and European, allows us to challenge this view. On the contrary, his ideas were developed in a critical dialogue both with his predecessors and his contemporaries, notably with women authors who had defended the equality of the sexes. Not exempt from ambiguities and paradoxes, his writings were part of a lively and ongoing debate and were passionately read and discussed.
Réseaux sociaux