The Labor of the Mind: Intellect and Gender in Enlightenment Cultures

Anthony J. La Vopa

Published by University of Pennsylvania Press 2017

The Labor of the Mind

Intellect and Gender in Enlightenment Cultures

Anthony J. La Vopa

In the series Intellectual History of the Modern Age

https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812294187

Overview
Contents

About this book

The Labor of the Mind plumbs the Enlightenment's social and cultural logic of conceiving the mind as manly; considers the textual representations of the manly mind; and examines the ways in which it was subverted or at least subtly questioned.

Author / Editor information

Anthony J. La Vopa is Professor Emeritus of History at North Carolina State University.

Reviews

"The Labor of the Mind is the most subtle and innovative study of Enlightenment thought in decades. Taking conversations rather than printed texts as his starting point, and reaching back deeply into the seventeenth century, Anthony J. La Vopa shows how male-female friendships within an aristocratic culture produced both intellectual dynamism and anxieties about the feminization of the mind. La Vopa interweaves the ideas and conversational practices of such prominent writers as David Hume and Denis Diderot with those of lesser-known figures such as Poullain de la Barre and Suzanne Necker, offering fascinating insights about these thinkers as both human beings and as makers of our modern understandings of femininity and manliness."—Suzanne Marchard, Louisiana State University

"The Labor of the Mind is a terrific book and a magisterial contribution to Enlightenment studies, to intellectual history, and especially to gender studies. Labor, as the practice of intellectual work, and gender serve as two prongs of incisive analysis running through the book. By grounding texts and ideas in the lives and experiences of the men and women who wrote them, Anthony J. La Vopa has breathed new life into the intellectual history of the eighteenth century."—Mary Terrall, University of California, Los Angeles

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
A Note on Translations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1. The Social Aesthetic of Play in Seventeenth-Century France Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
Chapter 2. Poullain de la Barre: Feminism, Radical and Polite Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	44
Chapter 3. Malebranche and the Bel Esprit Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
Chapter 4. Love, Gallantry, and Friendship Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
Chapter 5. Shaftesbury’s Quest for Fraternity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
Chapter 6. The Labors of David Hume Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	162
Chapter 7. Genius and the Social: Antoine-Léonard Thomas and Suzanne Curchod Necker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Chapter 8. Minds Not Meeting: Denis Diderot and Louise d’Épinay Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	298
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	311
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	337
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	349

Language: English
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 360
Keywords: History; Cultural Studies; European History; World History; Gender Studies

eBook

Published: August 18, 2017
ISBN: 9780812294187