Christine de Pizan and women’s "worldly prudence": a medieval background for building the concept of philosophical sustainability

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2024-1077

Keywords:

medieval philosophy, women studies, Christine de Pizan, slander, justice, women’s authority, philosophical sustainability, worldly prudence

Abstract

Introduction: Medieval philosophy is still associated with a mere transmission of Greek philosophy centered on the apologia and justification of religion without conceptual or thematic innovation beyond this realm. In this paper we analyze the disruptive position of Christine de Pizan. Methodology: Through his critique of the slander of women, ethics, the disaffection of philosophy with respect to half of humanity and the interpretation of inherited knowledge are brought into crisis. Pizan's fundamental works and two of her sources, Boethius and Salisbury, are analyzed. Results: The author vindicates and dignifies first-person experience as a woman as a legitimate source of innovation and knowledge. Discussions: The origin of the assertions that defame women and the non-rational origin of these assertions is analyzed. It is proposed to apply the Emersonian concept of representative man to the author and to introduce the notion of sustainability in the philosophical methodology of the history of philosophy, pointing out the figure of Christine as a medieval antecedent. Conclusions: Christine de Pizan makes visible a forgotten injustice and tyranny. She offers hermeneutic strategies different from those of scholarly knowledge and highlights her own experience, in this case as a vulnerable subject.

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Author Biography

Encarnación Ruiz Callejón, University of Granada

Full Professor. PI of the Group “Anthropology and Philosophy” (SEJ-126). Latest publications: 2022: Madame de Staël and the women alchemists of happiness. Human Review, International Humanities. https://doi.org/10.37467/revhuman.v11.4127. 2023: Schopenhauer's pessimism and the influence of the Periphyseon. Medievalia Textos e estudos, 41, 483-491. 2023: Madame de Staël, thinker of peace. In M. E. Díez Jorge and C. Martínez López (eds.). Women and discourses of peace in History (pp. 185-198). Peter Lang. 2024: You speak of heaven! And you dishonor the earth: the spiritual quest of Emerson and Thoreau. In Current social and philosophical challenges: ethics, politics, falsehoods, and disruptive discourses. Peter Lang (in press). 2024: “Margaret Fuller: women and the other declaration of independence.” In Perspectivas transversales: Cultura, educación y género. Marcial Pons (in press).

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Published

2024-11-11

How to Cite

Ruiz Callejón, E. (2024). Christine de Pizan and women’s "worldly prudence": a medieval background for building the concept of philosophical sustainability. European Public & Social Innovation Review, 9, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.31637/epsir-2024-1077

Issue

Vol. 9 (2024)

Section

INNOVATING IN CULTURAL AND SOCIAL STORYTELLING VALUES

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