Right Reason and the Power of Platonism in 17th Century Women Philosophers

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Speaker(s): Elisabeth Thorsson, University of Durham

Abstract: 'This paper investigates the Platonist influence on the concept of reason—with emphasis on the term right reason—in the context of Early Modern women philosophers in the western tradition. Right reason played a central role in the revival of natural law theory in this period and is also central to understanding the concept of the human mind as both universal and gender-neutral. In this way, some women thinkers such as Anne Conway (1631-1679), Damaris Masham (1658-1708), and Mary Astell (1666-1731), explicitly appeal to a conception of ‘right reason’ in demonstrating that reason is not the sole preserve of men. However, the meaning of the term right reason—along with its central role within Early Christianity and Christian Platonism—has often been overlooked in the history of philosophy, in favour of the instrumental definition of reason as brought in by Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) and David Hume (1711–1776). As the general interest in both theology and Platonism saw a decline within the study of philosophy, from Hume onwards, the richer meaning of ‘right reason’ including its classical roots has been lost. Thus, I argue that through a richer understanding of the term right reason, we can see that the women philosophers of the 17th century—in particular with regards to feminist philosophy—were not separated from the male-dominated dialogue on natural law theory but should instead be seen as very much a part of it.'