Political philosophy and political mysticism in female texts of the Renaissance: around two treatises by María de san José Salazar

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to propose a review of the classic philosophers to expand our historical knowledge and, at the same time, consider new possible conceptualizations of politics. Specifically, we claim that there may be relevant female religious thinkers of the Renaissance (and probably before), whose writings are difficult to analyze from the perspective used to study the prototypical texts of the discursive genre. To tackle this problem, we take two premises as a basis: a) the configuration of the discursive universes in which they are allowed to take part does not have to be the same to that of prototypically masculine discourses; and b) the good governance of the convent, considered in terms of a particular civitas (political philosophy), cannot be understood without the female religious experience as a means to legitimize a power which is not recognized by human means (political mysticism). As an example, we analyze, making a difference between political philosophy and political mysticism, two treatises written by Discalced Carmelite María de San José Salazar, Consejos que da una priora (1590) and Maestra de novicias (1602), which are relevant because their recommendations for the virtuous female convent government are based on an unquestionable management experience.