Early Modern Englishwomen Testing Ideas

Book excerpt: Early Modern Englishwomen Testing Ideas explores how women in England participated in the considerable intellectual and cultural diversity which characterised the 'late' early modern period, from the mid-seventeenth century to the early eighteenth century. This collection looks particularly at early modern women philosophers, playwrights and novelists, and considers how they engaged with ideas and debates over philosophical and scientific ideas, as well as literary innovations. This volume extends our understanding of the philosophical ideas and literary innovations of the early modern period and presents an exciting collection of women writers vigorously engaged with the intellectual debates that were occurring in the rapidly changing post-Restoration society.