La femme et sa destinée d'après Edith Stein

Philippe Lauria

pp. 92-99

in: Yvanka Raynova (ed), Ethik, Freiheit und Liebe, Labyrinth: An International Journal for Philosophy, Value Theory and Sociocultural Hermeneutics 16 (2), 2014.

Abstract

The following essay aims to show that Edith Stein's conception of women was a feminist and a traditionalist one. This could be interpreted by some philosophers as a sort of contradiction. Thus the author presents the different arguments detecting such a conflict between feminism and traditionalism. These arguments are based in fact on the opposition between nature or essence, on the one hand, and freedom, on the other hand. The thesis of the author is that there is not necessarily a conflict between essence and freedom, and that essence is not a fiction but an ontological reality which, interpreted in the way of Edith Stein, makes it possible to conceive sexual difference in a perfect synthesis between the Christian tradition and gender equality.

Cited authors

Stein Edith