There are many great women who have influenced contemporary philosophy as we know it today, the most influential of these women being Saint Catherine of Siena. Catherine lived during the Medieval period of philosophy around the 14th century. She was a Catholic mystic who devoted her life to Christ, and during her service to the Catholic Church, her most famous work The Dialogue was created while in state of meditation. It is not surprising that St. Catherine of Siena has had a large impact on the current era of philosophy, along side many well known ancient philosophers such as: Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Plotinus, and Xenophanes. Frank Magil, author of Masterpieces of Christian literature in summary form, stresses her importance by saying, …show more content…
Catherine of Siena should be paired against would be Aristotle and his view of God as the unmoved mover. Aristotle’s view of God was very superficial, revealing very little about who God really is or what He stands for. In one of Aristotle’s works called Metaphysics, God represents an, “everlasting motionless independent thing” and that, “it is god who everlastingly lives the best life, so that life and continuous and everlasting duration belong to a god; for this being is god” (Baird, 2011). It is clear that Aristotle believes in a god very similar to the God of St. Catherine, but Aristotle is very unknowledgeable on anything other than basic facts. On the other hand, Catherine and her spirituality was focused mainly on her mystical marriage to her savior, who was Christ. In a book entitled The Female Mystic: Great Women Thinkers of the Middle Ages, Catherine of Siena is dissected, so to speak, in order to understand the true nature of her mysticism. Catherine believed that, “He [Christ] to her was the suffering savior, her teacher, the object of her ecstasies, and bridegroom” and depicted Christ in many ways such as: “the tree of life, a fountain a lion, a knight, an eagle, a lamb, a book, a bridge and a bed” (Dickens, 2009). When contrasting Aristotle’s distant view of God with St. Catherine’s intimate relationship with Christ, one can conclude that Catherine was much more knowledgeable in spiritual matters than Aristotle. With that being said, even though Aristotle is considered one of the greatest philosophers of all time, he does not even compare with the mystical philosophy of St. Catherine of
In the 1600s, Sor Juana Inez Cruz, a nun in the Convent of the Order of St Jerome, wrote a critique of a sermon that was delivered some forty years earlier. Her paper was critical of a preachers’ message regarding Christ and His love for mankind. Cruz’s critique was subsequently published by the Bishop of Puebla without her consent or knowledge. Additionally, the bishop wrote his own letter to Sor Juana using the fabricated name of Filotea de la Cruz. In his letter, the bishop describes a conversation between two nuns, one insisting that the other spend her time and abilities attending to religious matters alone, while forsaking intellectual pursuits (Norton 247). As a response to the bishop’s actions, Sor Juana wrote, “The Poets Answer to the Most Illustrious Sor Filotea de la Cruz”, a humble, intelligent, and tactful response, where she responded, “I have attempted to entomb my intellect together with my name and to sacrifice it to the One who gave it to me; and that no other motive brought me to the life of religion…” (Ines De Le Cruz, Sor Juana 252). Her response to the Bishop of Puebla grew from her distaste of his stance against a woman’s right to a secular education. In Cruz’s time, and as a rule, women were not allowed to pursue an education outside of the religious confines of the nunnery. As a result, the overseers of the convent did all they could to put Cruz to silence (Paz 263).?? Also, Cruz’s “Philosophical Satire”, which describes the unacceptable behavior of the men when it comes to a woman’s right to be treated fairly, reads, “....if, with eagerness unequaled, you plead against women’s disdain, why require them to do well when you inspire them to f...
A female philosopher was rare in the seventeenth century. A female in the Royal Society was even rarer. Margaret Cavendish was both. Margaret Cavendish was born Margaret Lucas. The name change was a result of her marriage to William Cavendish, the Duke of Newcastle. It was difficult for a woman to have writings published in the seventeenth century. Cavendish was able to publish some works on her own but her husband’s influence gave her the opportunity to publish many more works. Her husband also put her in close proximity with very influential philosophers and scientists of the time such as Hobbes and Boyle. Thinkers such as Hobbes and Boyle were not willing correspond to Cavendish directly since she was a women, and at the time correspondence
Catherine of Siena and Joan of Arc were small lapses in this model, since they did not come to power by wealth or economic status. Although they share many similarities, they have a few differences. Joan and Catherine stood out among millions of women and challenged the system of the time. Catherine of Siena was said to have received visions of Jesus, telling her to be kind to others and help the poor and sick. She was incredibly religious and did everything possible to help people at every turn. She also played a major role in moving the papacy from Avignon back to Rome. This made her very influential to others, and she gained a following. Joan and Catherine were incredibly similar in the ways that they gained fame through their visions, however, they differed in the motives that they had for their actions. Catherine went on to help many people in need, and was eventually made a saint of the Catholic Church. Her actions of kindness and grace ranked her in religious
A saint is a virtuous person that is honored by church after death who is considered to a degree of holiness and is blessed. In most Christian denominations think all people are saints in the Catholic Church the term saint is given to a person whom which the church has officially been canonized. Furthermore, the Catholic Church explains that they do not create or make a saint; however, they recognize saints. In fact, Frances Xavier Cabrini or as many people refer to her as Mother Cabrini is the first person to be canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church.
It’s fascinating that she was responsible for the novel Frankenstein where women are given such little importance, due to the dominant male characters. Women are given no voice at all as the story is told by three male narrators, Walton, Victor and the monster, which is only a reflection of the position men had in all aspects of life, domestic, social, political and economic in the nineteenth century.
St. Clare of Assisi took prayer and her religion seriously. Though she was thought to marry, which was a formal family tradition, she
\Joan’s rescue of Orléans sparked hope for the citizens of Orléans. The ruler, the Duke Charles of Orléans had been captured prisoner in England since the battle of Agincourt in 1415. His half-brother, John the Bastard of Orléans, was commanding in his absence, yet the city was slipping through his fingers. England was seizing control of Orléans, as it was a valuable city to France; Orléans was the bridge from the north and south France and helped with communication and keeping the country in line. No one trusted John the bastard. Almost all entrances and exits to the city have been closed off by the English, food was at a shortage and was sent in on horseback from neighboring cities to the only entrance at the east end of the city. This siege
While Dante’s Inferno and the Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena differ in the method of receiving a vision from God, both are important and had an impact in women of Christian history we see today. In Dante’s Inferno, Dante lived in a time that woman were viewed as seductresses who were often accused of adulterous acts and accepted the blame. The act of a chivalrous gentlemen was not popularized until many decades after Dante’s piece was written. Therefore, Dante portrayed his female characters to be of pure and innocent intent. Dante treats the women in his poem with unusual respect, given his social’s demeanor towards women. In the Dialogue of St. Catherine, she shares that at first, upon receiving this vision, she closed herself in solitude
Were the Medicis the great heroes of the Renaissance or the great villains? The Medici’s were a prominent family in the Renaissance, who ruled Florence from 1434 to 1737. They are regarded as being one of the most powerful and richest families in the whole of Europe. The Medics used this great status and wealth to develop an improved Florence, one that was significantly influenced by the Renaissance.
The establishment of the early Christian church is often presented as without conflict. After the death of Jesus, the tradition states that Simon Peter established Jesus’ ministry and was the first apostle commissioned by Jesus. However, this was not without competition and in some circles, Peter was not the choice of leadership for the early church. Mary Magdalene was a woman disciple of Jesus and in many canonical and non-canonical texts, she was the choice for leadership of the church. Both are said to have been commissioned by Jesus, and depending on the text, one or the other was the first to see Jesus’s resurrection. While each had a fair claim to apostleship, Mary Magdalene is not considered to be an apostle in the Christian Church.
Agnesi was born in Italy on May 16, 1718. Agnesi was the oldest of 21 children and thanks to her father’s wealth, was able to receive the best tutors available. Agnesi was known for being a child prodigy, and by the age of nine she already could speak multiple languages. Although she was a shy child, she accomplishes a lot to please her father. During this time women weren’t allowed to pursue higher education, so at the age of nine she wrote a Latin discourse supporting education for women, with help of one of her tutors. When Agnesi was only 20 years of age she wrote the “Propositiones Philosophicae” which is essentially a series of essays on natural science and philosophy. Another book she wrote was "Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventu italiana” (Institutions analytical use of the Italian youth) which was supposed to be used as a text book by her younger brothers. She then wrote another two volume book called "Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventu italiana" which was published in 1748, which was her claim to fame. Soon after that Pope Benedict XIV appointed her to be an honorary reader at the University of Bologna, she was then asked to accept the chair of mathematics but no one can confirm whether she officially accepted or not, nonetheless her contribution to women in science is significant. She is most famous for the “Witch of
The contemporary situation connected to the gender relations between men and women went through a long way of shaping and can be considered the result of the contributions of many people both negative and positive. Every epoch is characterized by the individuals who influenced it in terms of changing the status of females in the society. Some of them were fighting and achieved fruitful results and became symbols and role models. In order to get a better understanding of how the role of women transformed, it would be interesting and informative to take a look at the dialogue between two centuries, between two women who fostered changes. The communication between Catherine the Great and Susan Anthony is presented below.
with her family . She always told her daughter never to eat anything mouthful without
Mary Wollstonecraft effected the lives of many women. One significant woman that Mary Wollstonecraft had an effect on was Margaret Fuller. Margaret’s father, Timothy Fuller, had a need for an intellectual companion. Because he did not have a son as his first born, he gave Margaret an education intended only for males of the time. He was also an advocate for women’s rights, playing a major role in the development of Margaret’s feminist views she possessed later on in life.2 He used Wollstonecraft’s novel as a guide for Margaret’s education and instilled in Margaret that there are no limits to the female mind. Mr. Fuller pushed Margaret’s education to the limits, teaching her subjects intended for both women and men alike. He educated her about history and literature, topics thought good for a woman and useful when becoming a wife as well as teaching her top...
The Enlightenment questioned the role of women. For centuries men have dominated what the role of women should be. Many male writers believed that that women were lower intellectually value to men. But there were some philosophies, which showed some positive feed back for women. They argued that women were capable of all that men are. It was the woman thinkers who added new perspectives to the women question by suggesting better improvements for woman. Those thinkers believed that woman should be better educated. They should be able to learn what men are learning. A English writer Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was the fonder of modern European feminism. She began the women movement arguing the rights of women. She declared, that women should have equal rights with education and in economic and political life.