A Room Somewhere

Abstract This introduction sets out the main issues of the book: Is the value of the home gendered? Can it be a place of flourishing for women as well as men? And it introduces the method: This chapter approaches these questions by investigating the rich and varied history of women philosophers writing about the home. One conclusion drawn is that the history of the home seems to be bound up with the history of women’s subordination to men and of the division of the spheres, or, in other words, the story of how women became unfree. The chapter then sets out the organization of the book.