Luisa Sabuco

Summary

Sabuco was born 1562 in Alcaraz, Spain. She wrote Nueva Filosofia de la Naturaleza del Hombre (New Philosophy of Human Nature), which is her only known work. Although the authorship of this work is questioned, if Olivia Sabuco or her father Miguel actually wrote this work; the book remains in Olivia's name today and there appears to be evidence within the text to prove this.

In this book Sabuco wrote about the nature of human beings and impacted the future practice of medicine as well as future philosophers. Her influence is most recognized in Rene Descartes' work. Her philosophical influences were those of the classics, using such philosophers as Aristotle in reference to her work. Due to the era that Sabuco was writing in and the philosophies presented in her book, it is inferred that before publication, her work had been somewhat edited by the church.

Sabuco's thesis was "...there was a close connection between the soul and the body, which, if properly understood, would enable humans to control and improve their health and thus extend their lives." (Waithe, 265) Her ideas of human nature were based in the "interdependence of soul, body, and cosmos." Furthermore, she believed that there were three parts to human nature, which were the purely physical, the intellectual, and the moral. Sabaco goes on to say that there are three kinds of souls, vegetative, sentient, and rational. This then is constructed into a hierarchy stating that plants have "vegetative" souls, animals have "vegetative" and "sentient" souls, while humans have all three of these souls. This theory of souls creates her argument that human nature includes both the passions and mental being, but like Aristotle, she claims that there is moderation in both. The idea of imagination also plays a big role in her theory of human nature and psychology. Sabuco believed that imagination was good for one's well-being and that it was a way of avoiding boredom, which is bad for health. She recognized though, that we must "temper our imagination so that we cannot fool ourselves as to what is real." (Waithe, 272) Unlike Descartes who thought evil and sensory perceptions were the most common causes of self-deception, Sabuco thought this was letting one's imagination carry them away from reality and imagination could become a faulty coping mechanism. She goes on to propose emotions that she believed to cause illness or in extreme cases, death. Then also explains emotions that would better one's well-being. Sabuco also touches on concepts of biology in animals and anthropology to explain her ideas on medicine, while also discussing morality in the practice of medicine. She believes that wisdom provides the way for humans to become happy and healthy beings.

Personal Response

I find it amazing that a woman of this era was able to have such an impact on an area of study such as medicine, while doing it through a forum (philosophy) that is today still dominated by men. Also, that she influenced such a significant philosopher as Descartes. Although her education is questioned, as to whether she studied under her father or another practitioner of medicine, she claimed that her education was given to her by god. This too I find interesting given her more scientific look at medicine and human nature. I thought her beliefs on imagination and how it can be used to promote health as well as destroy one's reality was her most interesting idea. She wrote, "the experience of reality is less meaningful alone than when it is combined with the emotional experience of reality. Unlike the cognitive experience, the passionate experience can make a person happy, and physically and mentally well." This also explains her thought that human nature is a balance of the passionate and the rational; who I think speaks to many people as we experience the world and later reflect on its value.

Source

Chapter 11: “Olivia Sabuco de Nantes Barrera” of A History of Women Philosophers: Medieval,Renaissance and Enlightenment Women Philosophers A.D. 500-1600 by Mary Ellen Waithe

Birgitta of Sweden

Summary

Birgitta Suecica, or Birgitta of Sweden, (1302-1373) was born to Birgerus and his wife Ingeborg, who were both nobility. Just before Birgitta was born, her mother nearly lost her life in a shipwreck, but instead saw a vision in which an angel told her she was saved to have a daughter who would be a mouthpiece for God. From a very early age Birgitta began seeing visions of Mary and Christ, as well as the trinity and heaven. She desired to become a nun as a child, but her parents forced her to marry at age 13. She was married for 29 years in which she had eight children and practiced heavy asceticism (often depriving herself of food, burning herself with a candle, and living in continence except for purposes of reproduction). After the death of her husband, Birgitta's piety earned her much respect. She founded a convent opened a few hospitals in which she herself served as a nurse to the sick and poor. She was canonized in 1391. 

Birgitta also viewed herself as a “prophet” speaking political direction from God to the monarchs, as well as pointing out corruption within the church and monarchies. She also tried to reconcile the Pope and the Germanic Kings; she was successful in convincing Charles IV and Pope Urbanus V to reconcile in 1368, though few of her other attempts were successful.

In addition to her confident activism in the political sphere, Brigitta is most know for her visions. Through Brigitta’s visions it is clear that she has a thorough understanding of scripture. Her Revelationes, Sermo Angelicus, and The Orationes, (which serve as prayers, devotionals and lectures) are her most know works in which she conveys her doctrine on Mary, her concept of God, her Doctrine of the Trinity, her concept of human nature, and her political thought as given to her from God. She holds somewhat unique views claiming that God created man for no reason other than to make people who could share in His eternal joy, not because he needed man. She also wrote of the complete unity of the trinity as one and three with one eternity, one power and one glory. In her thoughts on human nature, she writes that the body was created to serve the soul and that through work, man can receive the honor of the angels. She also believed in predestination. Finally, her views on political thought revolve around the notion that Kings were put in place because man would not obey God alone, and that Kings must be just and charitable in all governing and decision-making.

Her most notable views include her extensive Mariology, in which she writes of visions of Mary as a counselor and advisor to all within the Catholic Church (widowed, virgin, happily married, etc.), and worshiped as the perfect and beloved-by-God virgin Queen of Heaven, second only to God himself. She also writes of Mary’s life on earth. Birgitta’s visions differ from the masculine dominated views of the time in that she portrays Mary as an intelligent, confident and active figure among the scriptures, teaching the apostles and serving and ministering to people alongside Jesus. While Aquinas held a view of Mary as passive and unintelligent, Birgitta’s Mary is a much stronger and more influential figure.

Personal Response

What I found most interesting about Birgitta was her passion and confidence. While she often denied herself, she gave everything she had (monetarily and physically) to serve others and to share the message of God. Also, it was noted in the introduction to this book that many women were seen as prodigies and marveled at for their knowledge while they were young and before having a family, but Birgitta accomplished much and earned the respect, or at least the ear of many powerful figures, even after raising a family of her own. While her heavy concentration on the study and worship of Mary outweighs much of the other literary work she produced, I found it interesting and refreshing that she was able to put forward her ideas despite the male-dominated sphere. She presented Mary as an encouragement and role-model to all women within Catholicism. Not only was Birgitta’s Mary perfectly pious and pure, she was intelligent and confident in serving God alongside men, even Christ. It seems Birgitta aimed to reflect Mary in her own life.

Source

Chapter 8 "Birgitta of Sweden" by Cornelia Wolfskeel, of A History of Women Philosophers: Medieval, Renaissance and Enlightenment Women Philosophers A.D. 500-1600 by Mary Ellen Waithe 

Hildegard of Bingen

Summary

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179A.D.) was the youngest of ten children of a noble in Germany. From a young age, Hildegard saw light phenomena and experienced visionary impressions. Unlike other women of her time, this was uniquely Hildegard, as these inner visions contributed to her works in the coming years. Calling Hildegard a philosopher would be problematic. She is seen most often as a visionary, her works seen as visionary literature. Alois Dempf associates Hildegard with German historical symbolism. It was a historical-philosophical movement that separated all pre-Christian and Christian history into periods and had symbolic typological connections between them. Since women were prohibited to freely criticize and question certain issues in public, the way around it was through mystical writing. Hildegard took great care in her works to conceal her own interpretations as inquiries of the word of God. Hildegard as well as other women used the negative portrayal of women by male theologians and philosophers to justify women’s position of the weaker person as being the voice for God.

Scivias, Hildegard’s most famous work, produces her fundamental conviction of the mutual integration of Creation and history of salvation. In her vision of the universe, Hildegard makes use of the Ptolemaic concept of the world. The vision, however, modified Ptolemy’s concept by referring to the world as an egg (a female symbol.) As well as stating that Earth was men’s abode, and the yolk and the center of the universe. From Hildegard’s overall salvation-orientated perspective, it could be seen that she was fully aware of the consequences of human actions that are for or against God. Her overall outlook was far more optimistic and realistic, in relation to the criticisms of the time and warnings of corrupt human behaviors. Scivias and Hildegard’s other works used feminine symbols such as the moon and the city as well as Synagogue and Church to represent her own body as a vehicle of spiritual connection with God. 

The second work by Hildegard focused on the ethics in the Middle Ages, the struggle of virtues and vices. Shown as visionary, Hildegard illustrated vices, which must be overcome by the soul over and over again, as combinations of animal and human body parts. Virtues were contradictions to the vices. According to Hildegard, virtue and the Holy Spirit in men are united and the connection could not be analyzed any more closely. Hildegard wrote about more than ethics and theology, but also about the nature of the human individual in a world with God. In most of her works, Hildegard continuously inserted the idea that the power of women came from their weakness and their association with God; as well as the claim of men being weak due to their strength.  

Personal Response

Hildegard dabbled in theology, eschatology, ethics, nature, gender, and the cosmos. When talking about the image of God in men, she was careful to not confine God in one gender and to make a distinction of gender when it came to God. She was very conscious in the labels and the inferiority complex placed on women during the Middle Ages. In all her works, she tried to justify women being on the same plane as men, not inferior to them. More than that, she showed the positive in the weakness of women and the negative in the strength of men. I am not sure whether that would help in elevating women or at least leveling the playing field between men and women. Instead of showing the strengths of a woman, she showed that a woman’s weakness is great, positive, and powerful in its own right. I had not thought about it that way but this view allows women to embrace their own selves and not be inferior to men.

I am extremely interested in Hildegard as a visionary, a person who can see visions of the future. It seems more magical and fantastical than reasonable and concrete. Yet, her visions allowed Hildegard to create and to connect with philosophy and knowledge. Using visionary writings as a mask to her responses against the Church and commenting philosophically on issues was ingenious. It shows Hildegard was an intelligent and bright woman despite her lack of education. Yet, how much philosophy could be interpreted from writings deemed mystical? Were Hildegard's intentions to write about ethics and theology or did they happen to connect? How many other women during this time had to hide their own thoughts and interpretations in God, losing their true ideas?

Source

Chapter 2. "Hildegard of Bingen" of A History of Women Philosophers: Medieval, Renaissance and Enlightenment Women Philosophers A.D. 500-1600 by Mary Ellen Waithe

Murasaki Shikibu

Summary

Murasaki Shikibu (970-1031 A.D.) lived in Japan during the Heian period. She was the daughter of a minor court official and a court lady of the Fuiwara clan. Though forbidden to women at the time, Murasaki learned Chinese form her father, mastering it more quickly than her brother. This opened many doors for her, including access to more texts and learning. Early on in life, she hid her learning due to her culture's attitude that educated women were proud (in a negative sense). But eventually she would tutor the Empress Shoshi and various other high-ranking women at court in academic matters, including Chinese. Murasaki Shikibu is thought to be a nickname of sorts; her real name is unknown.

Her philosophical contributions come to us through her literary work. Primarily, her Genji Monogatari, a novel that examines many philosophical and religious issues through the narrative story of the story's female protagonist (Ukifune), is considered part of Japanese classical literature. Genji Monogatari deals with determinism, free will, society, religion, predestination, and cultural perspectives on women. Murasaki has Ukifune seek enlightenment and self-direction in a culture where women were considered a lesser form and were not able to influence their own destinies. Her work is complex and unique considering her time and culture.

Personal Response

Murasaki's story was unlike anything I expected to read during this time period. Much of what I've read and studied in college stems from the Western tradition. But Murasaki was a Japanese woman who seems to have dealt with many of the same issues in her own culture far away from European influence. In her time the primary religion was combination of a Shinto and Buddhism. I found the similar challenges of Murasaki surprising. She faced prejudice for her learning, and religion was used to limit the education of women during her time.

Murasaki is a somewhat nontraditional philosopher because her contribution to philosophy is mainly literary. She wrote her philosophy in the form of a story rather than an essay, but she still managed to convey deeply philosophical arguments. By having her protagonist, Ukifune, not truly fit within Japanese society Murasaki suggests that the society's perspective of women does not provide a coherent worldview for women.

I enjoyed discovering that Murasaki did not limit her content to challenging sexist views of women. She covered things such as existentialism, death, reincarnation, objectification, and freedom. All of this was done through a narrative. My impression of Murasaki based on this reading is that she was a thoughtful, intelligent woman who was fortunate enough to have access to education in a time where it may have been withheld.

Source

Chapter 1 "Murasaki Shikibu" of A History of Women Philosophers: Medieval, Renaissance and Enlightenment Women Philosophers A.D. 500-1600 by Mary Ellen Waithe