Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
BEYTULHIKME-AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY, cilt.13, sa.4, ss.118-136, 2023 (ESCI)
The Enlightenment represents a period where many philosophers focused on ideals such as equality, freedom, and the control of arbitrary power. These philosophers aimed to create an intellectual and economically free "universal" human subject. To recognize the origins of current gender roles and stereotypes, this study investigates the gender perspective of the Enlightenment as a crucial transitional era, and questions whether these ideals were achieved. The study also whether the concept of a universal human subject encompasses women. The study initially outlines the fundamental conceptual framework of the Enlightenment, followed by efforts to define differences between genders during that era. It was also emphasized that these efforts did not align with ideas highlighting the universal nature of humanity. Gender debates of the era, associated with concepts like "nature", "reasoning", and "virtue" depicted women as inherently weak, intellectually deficient, and carriers of virtue, legitimizing these claims through scientific explanations. This, in turn, led to the failure of the Enlightenment in addressing the position of women, resulting in discussions stuck in a vicious cycle. Yet, the study also explores Enlightenment initiatives aimed at liberating women from the confines of restrictive gender definitions as well as its contributions to the transformation of power. Mary Wollstonecraft, recognizing the contradictions of the Enlightenment, highlights the Enlightenment's intellectual aspect questioning whether its ideals encompassed women, laying the groundwork for feminism. In summary, this study points to the profound ambivalence of the Enlightenment in conceiving and legitimizing itself as a stage in human progress, questioning its claims of being based on universally applicable norms and principles and asserting its failure in this regard. However, the study also highlights the role of the Enlightenment as a catalyst in the awakening of women, and stresses that contemporary feminism is the historical manifestation of this process.