000			03070nam a22003017a 4500
003			IIITD
005			20250708130038.0
008			250620b |||||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
020			_a9780197757987
040			_aIIITD
082			_a848.509 _bJAN-E
100			_aJaniak, Andrew
245			_aThe enlightenment's most dangerous woman : _bEmilie Du Chatelet and the making of modern philosophy _cby Andrew Janiak
260			_aNew York : _bOxford University Press, _c©2024
300			_axiii, 287 p. : _bill. ; _c22 cm.
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
505			_t1. The Rise and Fall of Émilie Du Châtelet
505			_t2. What Was the Scientific Revolution?
505			_t3. Du Châtelet's Vision of Science and Philosophy
505			_t4. The Enlightenment's Most Famous Woman
505			_t5. The Enlightenment's Most Dangerous Woman: or the Making of Modern Philosophy
505			_t6. Du Châtelet's Enlightenment: Philosophy for Freethinkers
520			_aJust as the Enlightenment was gaining momentum throughout Europe, philosopher Émilie Du Châtelet broke through the many barriers facing women at the time and published a major philosophical treatise in French. Within a few short years, she became famous: she was read and debated from Russia to Prussia, from Switzerland to England, from up north in Sweden to down south in Italy. This was not just remarkable because she was a woman, but because of the substance of her contributions. While the men in her milieu like Voltaire and Kant sought disciples to promote their ideas, Du Châtelet promoted intellectual autonomy. She counselled her readers to read the classics, but never to become a follower of another's ideas. Her proclamation that a true philosopher must remain an independent thinker, rather than a disciple of some supposedly “great man” like Isaac Newton or René Descartes, posed a threat to an emerging consensus in the Enlightenment. And that made her dangerous.After all, if young women took Du Châtelet's advice to heart, if they insisted on thinking for themselves, they might demand a proper education—the exclusion of women from the colleges and academies of Europe might finally end. And if young women thought for themselves, rather than listening to the ideas of the men around them, that might rupture the gender-based social order itself. Because of the threat that she posed, the men who created the modern philosophy canon eventually wrote Du Châtelet out of their official histories. After she achieved immense fame in the middle of the eighteenth century, her ideas were later suppressed, or attributed to the men around her. For generations afterwards, she was forgotten. Now we can hear her voice anew when we need her more than ever. Her lessons of intellectual independence and her rejection of hero worship remain ever relevant today.-- publisher description.
650			_aPhilosophy -- History -- 18th century
650			_aWomen in science
650			_aPhilosophical traditions
942			_cBK _2ddc
999			_c190086 _d190086