Description

Book Synopsis

The Equality of Flesh traces a new genealogy of equality before its formalization under liberalism. While modern ideas of equality are defined through an inner human nature, Brent Dawson argues that the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries conceptualized equality as an ambivalent and profoundly bodily condition. Everyone was made from the same lowly matter and, as a result, shared the same set of vulnerabilities, needs, and passions. Responding to the political upheavals of colonialism and the intellectual turmoil of new natural philosophies, leading figures of the English Renaissance, including Edmund Spenser and William Shakespeare, anxiously imagined that bodily commonality might undermine differences of religion, race, and class.

As the period progressed, later authors developed the revolutionary possibilities of bodily equality even as new ideas of fixed racial inequality emerged. Somelike the utopian radical Gerrard Winstanley and the republican poet

The Equality of Flesh

    Product form

    £40.50

    Includes FREE delivery

    RRP £45.00 – you save £4.50 (10%)

    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Thu 9 Jul 2026.

    A Hardback by Brent Dawson

    15 in stock

      Trusted by thousands of customers. See 2,385+ Customer Reviews

      View other formats and editions of The Equality of Flesh by Brent Dawson

      Publisher: Cornell University Press
      Publication Date: 6/15/2024
      ISBN13: 9781501775659, 978-1501775659
      ISBN10: 1501775650
      Also in:
      Political science and theory

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      The Equality of Flesh traces a new genealogy of equality before its formalization under liberalism. While modern ideas of equality are defined through an inner human nature, Brent Dawson argues that the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries conceptualized equality as an ambivalent and profoundly bodily condition. Everyone was made from the same lowly matter and, as a result, shared the same set of vulnerabilities, needs, and passions. Responding to the political upheavals of colonialism and the intellectual turmoil of new natural philosophies, leading figures of the English Renaissance, including Edmund Spenser and William Shakespeare, anxiously imagined that bodily commonality might undermine differences of religion, race, and class.

      As the period progressed, later authors developed the revolutionary possibilities of bodily equality even as new ideas of fixed racial inequality emerged. Somelike the utopian radical Gerrard Winstanley and the republican poet

      Recently viewed products

      © 2026 Book Curl

        • American Express
        • Apple Pay
        • Diners Club
        • Discover
        • Google Pay
        • Maestro
        • Mastercard
        • PayPal
        • Shop Pay
        • Union Pay
        • Visa

        Login

        Forgot your password?

        Don't have an account yet?
        Create account