Ban Zhao and the question of female philosophy in China

Rošker, Jana S. (author)

This article begins with an introduction to the general problems of women and philosophy and shows that female philosophical theorists worldwide still stand in the shadow of their male colleagues, regardless of where they live, their theoretical potential and the value of their research. Then, the article focuses upon the situation in China. The author considers and analyses some systemic problems related to the position and significance of women philosophers in the history of Chinese philosophy. The study challenges traditional views of this problem and argues that in this context we have to differentiate between classical discourses and later ideologies that openly promoted the inferior position of women in society. Through an analysis of the works of Ban Zhao (45 – 117 BCE), the first influential female thinker in Chinese intellectual history, the author also aims to expose the contradiction between dominant patriarchal conventions on the one hand and latent, often hidden criticism of gender relations in women’s writing in traditional China, on the other.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Chinese philosophy, female philosophy, Ban Zhao, gender studies
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2020
• Number of pages: Str. 239-260
• Numbering: Vol. 29, no. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-124701
• UDC: 1(510)
• ISSN on article: 2585-8793
• COBISS.SI-ID: 40931075

Copyright

Licenca CC BY 4.0 je navedena na pristajalni strani članka. (Datum opombe: 24. 12. 2021)

• Publication date in RUL: 10.02.2021

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Asian and African Studies
• Shortened title: Asian Afr. Stud.
• Publisher: Institute of Oriental Studies of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava
• ISSN: 2585-8793
• COBISS.SI-ID: 40930051

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 01.07.2020

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: kitajska filozofija, ženska filozofija, Ban Zhao, študije spolov