Volume 53 No.2 - 2007-06-30

Restoring Women to History: The Educational Ideas about Gender Education of Christine de Pizan

將女人還給歷史──文藝復興時期 Christine de Pizan兩性教育思想之探究

Author:
Yung-Chuan Fang / 方永泉
Keyword:
feminism, female education, Christine de Pizan / 女權主義、女子教育
  • Summary
  • Chinese Summary
  • Reference
  • Scholarly references
The main purpose of this article is to inquire into the educational thinking of the French woman writer Christine de Pizan (1364-1430). The first female literary professional, Pizan was called by some “the first feminist in western history.” She wrote many works about women’s issues and the issue of peace, and argued that women should receive the same education that men received; that is, she advocated the equality of men and women. The author regards three of Pizan’s works ─The Book of the City of Ladies, The Book of Three Virtues and The Book of the Body Politic─ as her most important with regard to education; here she discusses the most important works on the issue of education; here she discusses the education of women, of men, of the prince, and of the people. In analyzing Pizan’s educational ideas, the author finds that Pizan emphasized above all the importance of “humanity”—both from a feminist standpoint and out of concern for the welfare of the common people. The author then argues, based on the views of this pioneering woman writer of the late Medieval/early Renaissance period, that the restoration of humanity must be our primary concern when we face the issue of “social justice” today.
隨著女權主義在各學門領域的出現,再加上美國女性教育哲學家J. R. Martin於1985年出版《重啟對話》,在教育學術領域開啟了對於以男性思想為主的教育哲學及教育思想的批判,近20年來,從性別角度來重新省察的教育理論及教育思想已有重大進展。本文的主要目的,即在檢視以往西方教育思想中常被忽視的女子教育學說,並以一位十四至十五世紀的女性思想家Christine de Pizan(1364–1430)為主要的研究對象,特別針對其在教育及政治方面的代表作:《婦女城》、《三德之書》及《身體政治》各書的內容進行探討,並闡述其在女子和男子教育方面的主張。在教育思想的形成方面,Christine深受基督教思想與人文主義的影響,強調「德性」的教育主張。在其教育思想中最特別之處,是她對於婦女地位的捍衛以及對於平民地位、教育的重視。這些主張對於兩性平權的教育實踐活動極具時代意義。