The Man of Reason

The Man of Reason
Cover of the first edition
Author Genevieve Lloyd
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Subject Western philosophy
Publisher Methuen
Publication date
 1984
Media type Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages 138 (original edition)
ISBN 978-0415096812

The Man of Reason: "Male" and "Female" in Western Philosophy (1984; second edition 1993) is a book about the association between maleness and reason in western philosophy by the Australian philosopher Genevieve Lloyd. The work received positive reviews. It has been called a twentieth century classic of feminist thought, and is widely read in the Nordic countries.

Summary

Lloyd describes the work as an, "overview of the successive alignments between maleness and ideals of reason throughout the history of western philosophy".[1] Philosophers Lloyd discusses include Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir.[2]

Publication history

The Man of Reason was first published by Methuen in 1984. A second edition was published in 1993.[3]

Reception

Mainstream media

The Man of Reason received a positive review from K. Russell in Choice and a mixed review from Astrid M. O'Brien in Library Journal.[4][5]

Russell called the book "an extensive, careful historical analysis of the claim that Western standards of rationality and morality are masculine in orientation".[4] O'Brien wrote that the book that it was "well researched" but also "wordy, repetitious, and tedious to read."[5]

Academic journals

The Man of Reason received a positive review from Naomi Scheman in The Women's Review of Books.[2] The book was also reviewed by the philosopher Virginia Held in Ethics,[6] the philosopher Mary Tiles in Philosophy,[7] Kathryn Jackson in Signs,[8] Ruby Riemer in Women & Politics,[9] Sara Shute in Journal of the History of Philosophy,[10] and Marjean D. Purinton in Southern Humanities Review,[11] and discussed by Martina Reuter and Laura Werner in NORA: Nordic Journal of Women's Studies.[12]

Scheman described the book as a "brilliantly concise rendering of the history of the association of the social constructions of maleness and of reason." She credited Lloyd with being "admirably sensitive to the historical changes in the characterization of reason", and argued that while most academic philosophers believe that "the current competing pictures of the normatively rational self are in theory gender-neutral", Lloyd made a strong case to the contrary in her "utterly devastating" book. She considered it "paradoxically rooted in the very norms of rational discourse whose nature, function, and origin" Lloyd questioned and predicted that many academic philosophers would not be convinced by Lloyd's arguments. She wrote that Lloyd's attempt to show that "discourses based on inegalitarian projects and interests are unable to live up to their own norms" is a strategy largely inspired by the work of Karl Marx, a philosopher not discussed by Lloyd. She endorsed Lloyd's view that Beauvoir's attempt to put Sartre's and Hegel's "notions of transcendence" to feminist use is problematic, since transcendence is in its origins transcendence of the feminine.[2]

Reuter and Werner wrote that the book "has prompted new ways of reading the history of philosophy and has become a feminist classic widely read in the Nordic countries."[12]

Evaluations in books

S. A. Grave wrote in The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (1995) that The Man of Reason has been called a twentieth century classic of feminist thought.[13]

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Lloyd 2002, p. 24.
  2. 1 2 3 Scheman 1995, pp. 15–16.
  3. ↑ Lloyd 1995, p. 1.
  4. 1 2 Russell 1985, p. 1348.
  5. 1 2 O'Brien 1985, p. 100.
  6. ↑ Held 1986, pp. 652–654.
  7. ↑ Tiles 1986, pp. 414–418.
  8. ↑ Jackson 1987, pp. 165–168.
  9. ↑ Riemer 1987, pp. 85–87.
  10. ↑ Shute 1987, pp. 464–465.
  11. ↑ Purinton 1995, pp. 185–187.
  12. 1 2 Reuter & Werner 2000, pp. 175–179.
  13. ↑ Grave 1995, p. 68.

Bibliography

Books

  • Grave, S. A.; Honderich, Ted, Editor (1995). The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-866132-0.
  • Lloyd, Genevieve; Lloyd, Genevieve, Editor (2002). Feminism and History of Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-924374-3.
  • Lloyd, Genevieve (1995). The Man of Reason: "Male" and "Female" in Western Philosophy. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415096812.
Journals

  • Held, Virginia (1986). "The man of reason (Book Review)". Ethics. 96 (April 1986).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Jackson, Kathryn (1987). "The man of reason (Book Review)". Signs. 13 (Autumn 1987).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • O'Brien, Astrid M. (1985). "The man of reason (Book)". Library Journal. 110 (2).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Purinton, Marjean D. (1995). "Book reviews". Southern Humanities Review. 29 (2).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Reuter, Martina; Werner, Laura (2000). "History, texts and feminism: an interview with Genevieve Lloyd". NORA: Nordic Journal of Women's Studies. 8 (3).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Riemer, Ruby (1987). "The Man of Reason: "Male" and "Female" in Western Philosophy". Women & Politics. 7 (1).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Russell, K. (1985). "The man of reason (Book Review)". Choice. 22 (May 1985).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Scheman, Naomi (1985). "The Force of Reason". The Women's Review of Books. 3 (1).
  • Shute, Sara (1987). "The man of reason (Book Review)". Journal of the History of Philosophy. 25 (July 1987).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
  • Tiles, Mary (1986). "The man of reason (Book Review)". Philosophy. 61 (July 1986).  – via EBSCO's Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
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