We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from W
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 January 2025
Spinoza’s remarks on women are disappointing. In his TP, he declares that daughters should never be permitted to assume the throne (TP6.37). In democracies, Spinoza insists, women, like servants or criminals, should be excluded from civic participation (TP11.3–4). Some commentators interpret him to exclude women only by virtue of their social conditioning or historical circumstances (Lloyd 1994; Lord 2011). Yet, Spinoza defends his exclusion of women at some length, arguing, in contrast to his feminist contemporaries, that women’s inferiority must be explained by nature rather than custom. Other interpreters thus contend that Spinoza unequivocally denies women’s equality, although this appears to contradict his understanding of human nature and rationality (Gullan-Wuhr 2008; Sharp 2012).
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
