How to Think Like a Woman: Four Women Philosophers Who Taught Me How to Love the Life of the Mind
From a bold new voice in nonfiction, an exhilarating account of the lives and works of influential 17th and 18th century feminist philosophers Mary Wollstonecraft and her predecessors who have been written out of history, and a searing look at the author's experience of patriarchy and sexism in academia
As a young woman growing up in small-town Iowa, Regan Penaluna daydreamed about the big questions: Who are we and what is this strange world we find ourselves in? In college she fell in love with philosophy and chose to pursue it as an academician, the first step, she believed, to becoming a self-determined person living a life of the mind. What Penaluna didn't realize was that the Western philosophical canon taught in American universities, as well as the culture surrounding it, would slowly grind her down through its misogyny, its harassment, its devaluation of women and their intellect. Where were the women philosophers?
One day, in an obscure monograph, Penaluna came across Damaris Cudworth Masham's name. The daughter of philosopher Ralph Cudworth and a contemporary of John Locke, Masham wrote about knowledge and God, and the condition of women. Masham's work led Penaluna to other remarkable women philosophers of the era: Mary Astell, who moved to London at age twenty-one and made a living writing philosophy; Catharine Cockburn, a philosopher, novelist, and playwright; and the better-known Mary Wollstonecraft, who wrote extensively in defense of women's minds. Together, these women rekindled Penaluna's love of philosophy and awakened her feminist consciousness.
In How to Think Like a Woman, Regan Penaluna blends memoir, biography, and criticism to tell the stories of these four women, weaving throughout an alternative history of philosophy as well as her own search for love and truth. Funny, honest, and wickedly intelligent, this is a moving meditation on what philosophy could look like if women were treated equally.
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Regan Penaluna is a writer and journalist based in Brooklyn. Previously, she was an editor at Nautilus Magazine and Guernica, where she wrote and edited long-form stories and interviews. A feature she wrote was listed in the Atlantic as one of "100 Exceptional Works of Journalism."
A New York Times Editors' Choice
A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 from The Millions and Literary Hub
Inc. Non-Obvious Book Awards Best Book of 2023 Winner
"Provocative... An indictment of sexism in the field." -- New York Times
"Penaluna tacks between rage and humor, biography and theory. Her writing is sharp and rousing. Her message is consoling and motivating. If this is what it means to think like a woman, sign me up." -- Wall Street Journal
"Through her studies, Penaluna confirms not only that women have always engaged in philosophy, but that they have made unique and substantial contributions to the field... By giving us their names, she not only counteracts their omission from the canon, but fashions the beginnings of a new one entirely." -- The Atlantic
"Penaluna deftly tells the stories of four 17th and 18th century female philosophers, skillfully weaving their narratives into a rich exploration of her own experiences of patriarchy and sexism in academia." -- Observer
"An alternate philosophical canon, where women and their intellect are deeply and rigorously examined." -- The Millions, Most Anticipated Books of 2023"How to Think Like a Woman is a much-needed revelation." -- Literary Hub, Most Anticipated Books of 2023"Incisive...Penaluna skillfully captures the thinking of these four women in impassioned prose as she challenges sexism in the canon...Lucid and frank, this blend of memoir, biography, and criticism makes a solid case for why representation matters." -- Publishers Weekly"Thought-provoking...Engaging...A considerable achievement." -- Booklist, starred review
"[Penaluna's] story of rebuilding and reimagining personally and professionally demonstrates defiant independence from patriarchal prescriptions and their shame and an embrace of feminist anger, ambiguity, and diversity of thought....[A] redemptive reclamation of the female voice in the study of philosophy." -- Kirkus"A feminist rallying cry informed by centuries of thought on the 'woman question, ' this elegantly written and intellectually rigorous memoir is a gift to women in male-dominated fields--and to everyone living a life of the mind while also trying to be a decent human being." -- Ada Calhoun, Author of Why We Can't Sleep: Women's New Midlife Crisis
"How to Think Like a Woman is a fascinating and illuminating work of non-fiction by a writer of real style and critical intelligence. Regan Penaluna has created an elegant synthesis of intellectual history, memoir and feminist polemic that deserves to be widely read as a corrective to centuries of misogyny and erasure in philosophy."--Mark O'Connell, author of Notes from an Apocalypse
