The link between feminine metaphors of nature and women’s actual subjugation resisted precise demonstration.

Evidence

One reviewer noted that the ideas explored in the book sometimes reflected social values and sometimes seemed to trigger changes. Yet this was a proverbial problem for historians, she stated, and the strength of the argument was that it avoided simple causations and hasty conclusions. Plausibility, associated values, compatibility, and the simultaneity of events made for a rich and complex argument. Others agreed that this approach resisted an easy determinism in favor of subtlety. Still others were concerned that the book’s crusading tone and feminist orientation might create opposition. Yet another objection lay in the problem of the precise relationship between female metaphors that described nature and the social subjection of women. — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 40

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Ecofeminism revalues a women-nature connection the west historically devalued to oppress women — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 60; The mechanistic worldview licensed exploitation of nature by rejecting the feminine as real. — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 39; Nature’s figuration as submissive female gave scientific exploitation normative sanction — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology,…, 755 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Nature’s figuration as submissive female gave scientific exploitation normative sanction #corroborates (0.82) — Carolyn Merchant, The Death of Nature, 755
• Woman’s subjugation symbolizes the mastery of nature that defines civilization #corroborates (0.80) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 255