Lydia Moland – författare

The Oxford Handbook of American and British Women Philosophers in the Nineteenth Century disrupts the widespread impression that there were no women philosophers in this period. Building on feminist histories of philosophy that cover other eras, this volume includes chapters on a wide range of women philosophers: those who wrote explicitly philosophical texts for academic audiences, others who philosophized in novels or pamphlets, and still others who philosophized through journalism or activist writings. Through fifty newly commissioned chapters, it examines the philosophical thought of individual women, including women of color, as well as chronicling women's contributions to philosophical movements such as Romanticism, Utilitarianism, Idealism, and Positivism. It also traces the philosophical arguments women used to contribute to topics in social philosophy such as socialism, feminism, abolitionism, and the philosophy of education. It outlines the history of writing and publishing in the nineteenth century, showing that circumstances were more hospitable to women authors during this time than is often assumed. It clarifies ways in which race and class affected women's philosophizing and analyzes the influence of women philosophers on their male contemporaries. By chronicling this wealth of women's philosophy, this handbook corrects the philosophical record and enriches our understanding of philosophy. If we assume there are no women philosophers in the nineteenth century, we will not look for them; if we do not look for them, they will remain obscure, limiting our understanding of what philosophy is and can be.

Now in paperback, a compelling biography of Lydia Maria Child, one of nineteenth-century America’s most courageous abolitionists.By 1830, Lydia Maria Child had established herself as something almost unheard of in the American nineteenth century: a beloved and self-sufficient female author. Best known today for the immortal poem “Over the River and through the Wood,” Child had become famous at an early age for spunky self-help books and charming children’s stories. But in 1833, Child shocked her readers by publishing a scathing book-length argument against slavery in the United States—a book so radical in its commitment to abolition that friends abandoned her, patrons ostracized her, and her book sales plummeted. Yet Child soon drew untold numbers to the abolitionist cause, becoming one of the foremost authors and activists of her generation.  Lydia Maria Child: A Radical American Life tells the story of what brought Child to this moment and the extraordinary life she lived in response. Through Child’s example, philosopher Lydia Moland asks questions as pressing and personal in our time as they were in Child’s: What does it mean to change your life when the moral future of your country is at stake? When confronted by sanctioned evil and systematic injustice, how should a citizen live? Child’s lifetime of bravery, conviction, humility, and determination provides a wealth of spirited guidance for political engagement today.