Sensitive Witnesses: Feminist Materialism in the British Enlightenment

Kristin M. Girten's book explores the feminist materialist practice of sensitive witnessing by British female philosophers in the Enlightenment era, challenging the dominant narrative of male natural philosophers and advocating for a more inclusive and accessible version of science.

Format: Hardback
Length: 246 pages
Publication date: 13 February 2024
Publisher: Stanford University Press

In her groundbreaking work, Kristin M. Girten delves into the fascinating story of feminist knowledge-making during the Enlightenment era. By examining the remarkable British female philosophers who boldly asserted their authority through the celebration of deeply embodied observations, experiences, and experiments, Girten offers a fresh perspective on the era. This book explores a groundbreaking feminist materialist practice known as sensitive witnessing, which challenges the conventional narrative of the emergence of the scientific method in the eighteenth century.

Francis Bacon and other male natural philosophers often downplayed the embodied nature of their observations, presenting themselves as modest witnesses, detached from their environment, and entitled to dominate and exploit it. In stark contrast, the author-philosophers that Girten takes up asserted themselves as intimately entangled with matter—boldly embracing their perceived close association with the material world as women. Girten showcases how Lucy Hutchinson, Margaret Cavendish, Aphra Behn, Eliza Haywood, and Charlotte Smith drew inspiration from materialist principles to challenge widely accepted modest conventions for practicing and communicating philosophy.

These thinkers, who were forerunners of the feminist materialism of today, recognized the kinship between human and nonhuman nature and proposed a more accessible and inclusive version of science. Girten persuasively argues that our understanding of Enlightenment thought must encompass these sensitive witnesses' visions of an alternative scientific method informed by profound closeness with the natural world. Through her meticulous research and insightful analysis, Girten provides a valuable contribution to the field of history, challenging us to reevaluate our assumptions about the Enlightenment and its impact on the development of scientific knowledge.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781503633032