Hipparchia's Choice - by Michele Le Doeuff (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"To be a philosopher and to be a feminist are one and the same thing. A feminist is a woman who does not allow anyone to think in her place."-from Hipparchia's Choice

A work of rare insight and irreverence, Hipparchia's Choice boldly recasts the history of philosophy from the pre-Socratics to the post-Derrideans as one of masculine texts and male problems. The position of women, therefore, is less the result of a hypothetical "femininity" and more the fault of exclusion by men. Nevertheless, women have been and continue to be drawn to "the exercise of thought." So how does a female philosopher become a conceptually adventurous woman? Focusing on the work of Sartre and Beauvoir (specifically, his sexism and her relation to it), Michèle Le Doeuff shows how women philosophers can reclaim a place for feminist concerns. Is The Second Sex a work of philosophy, and, if so, what can it teach us about the relation of philosophy to experience? Now with a new epilogue, Hipparchia's Choice points the way toward a discipline that is accountable to history, feminism, and society.

Review Quotes

Hipparchia's Choice is a book to be picked up again and again... it will keep encouraging its readers fully to engage in philosophy, critically and intelligently.--Marije Altor "Literature & Theology"

A rare and inspiring work of philosophy in that it is scrupulous in argumentation and a great pleasure to read.--Marguerite La Caze "Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy"

A testimony to the continuing importance of Michele Le Doeuff's groundbreaking work... Selous's translation gives a sparkling rendition of the text.--Margaret Sankey, University of Sydney "MLR"

Informally ordered yet tightly argued, Hipparchia's Choice ranges from brief close readings of Aristotle and Husserl to investigation of local 1970s French campaigns for reproductive rights and educational equality, with lengthy (but never self-indulgent) biographical and autobiographical digressions, always in search of the solid ground of shared political realism.--Meryl Altman "Women's Review of Books"

To see Hipparchia's Choice simply as an excellent feminist text is not enough: the point is that it is also excellent philosophy.... Le Doeuff's book is a challenge to what has rapidly become the received wisdom of a large section of Western feminism.--Toril Moi "Times Literary Supplement"

About the Author

Michèle Le Doeuff is a director of research in philosophy at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris. She is also the author of The Philosophical Imaginary and The Sex of Knowing.