ABSTRACT
THE QUESTION OF HOW TO ENGAGE THE THOUGHT OF CLASSIC MALE THEORISTS AND philosophers faces feminist theorists across cultures, disciplines, and social locations. Historically, the exclusion of women from the public sphere has meant that men alone had access to the resources that allowed them to become socially respected and acknowledged intellectuals. As a result, men have claimed the authority to speak for all, to define universal human concerns. As the authors included in this collection well know, there is no escaping the influence of these thinkers, given their domination of intellectual and political life. All the writers in this collection face the challenge of untangling the strands of the thought of these authoritative figures-to distinguish their originality and insight into broad political and social questions from their blindness to their own male privilege and failure to see the human experience whole when they do not acknowledge or see the lives of women. Thus there is a continuing tension in feminist appropriations and use of the ideas of male theorists who are themselves unconcerned with questions of gender.
