
The Contest for Knowledge
Debates over Women's Learning in Eighteenth-Century Italy
University of Chicago Press
Published on 16. May 2005
Book
Hardback
208 pages
978-0-226-01054-0 (ISBN)
Description
At a time when women were generally excluded from scholarly discourse in the intellectual centers of Europe, four extraordinary female letterate proved their parity as they lectured in prominent scientific and literary academies and published in respected journals. During the Italian Enlightenment, Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Giuseppa Eleonora Barbapiccola, Diamante Medaglia Faini, and Aretafila Savini de Rossi were afforded unprecedented deference in academic debates and epitomized the increasing ability of women to influence public discourse. The Contest for Knowledge reveals how these four women used the methods and themes of their male counterparts to add their voices to the vigorous and prolific debate over the education of women during the eighteenth century. In the texts gathered here, the women discuss the issues they themselves thought most urgent for the equality of women in Italian society specifically and in European culture more broadly. Their thoughts on this important subject reveal how crucial the eighteenth century was in the long history of debates about women in the academy.
Reviews / Votes
"A distinguished series dedicated to women's writing.... Women's writing, the editors explain, reveals a voice of protest in contradistinction to 'the first voice,' the voice of the educated men who created Western culture." - New York Review of Books"More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Chicago
United States
Publishing group
The University of Chicago Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 24 mm
Width: 16 mm
Thickness: 2 mm
Weight
425 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-226-01054-0 (9780226010540)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Maria Gaetana Agnesi | Diamante Medaglia Faini | Aretafila Savini de' Rossi
Contest for Knowledge
Debates over Women's Learning in Eighteenth-Century Italy
E-Book
11/2007
1st Edition
University of Chicago Press
€40.49
Available for download