Essensen föregår existensen : Människans natur i Christine de Pizans La Cité des Dames

Sammanfattning: Christine de Pizan’s book La Cité des Dames (1405) is one of the earliest profeminine writings produced in the western world. The purpose of this study is to examine how the book depicts human nature, and the ethical consequences of its statements about human existence and essence. Pizan writes from a clearly catholic perspective, but her thinking differs from that of some of the most widely read theologians in her time, which makes it particularly interesting to look at her theological and philosophical ideas. To deepen the analysis I also take a look at the much more contemporary work Den nya kvinnostaden (2005) by the Swedish author Nina Burton, whose book explicitly draws inspiration from the text of Pizan. The questions asked are: 1. What is human nature according to La Cité des Dames? 2. What does this mean for the individual's life, relationship with others and the world around her? 3. How does Burton’s thought relate to that of Pizan? What are some similarities and differences? In short, the study finds that even though there are many similarities in the structure of the works, and even though both authors are advocates of women, their foundational values differ greatly from each other; while Pizan leans on her faith, Burton rather expresses existentialist ideas.