First Woman Philosopher with a Doctorate: Elena Cornaro Piscopia

The study analyses the circumstances under which Elena Cornaro Piscopia became the first woman in the world to earn a Doctor degree in Philosophy, which she received from the University of Padua in 1678. The author presents the broader context of the outstanding accomplishment. She points out that, although universities did not allow women to enrol to study, Elena Cornaro managed to earn a doctorate thanks to several favourable circumstances. Of these, the author emphasises the tradition of intellectual centres at Renaissance courts in Italy, which were led by educated women-aristocrats; the development of the Venetian Republic in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which affected the position of women, particularly those from aristocratic families; the openness of universities, namely the Universities of Padua and Bologna. Special attention is given to the family background, life, and studies of Elena Cornaro. The final part of the paper deals with other women philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Women Philosophers in the Long Nineteenth Century

The long nineteenth century spans a host of important philosophical movements: romanticism, idealism, socialism, Nietzscheanism, and phenomenology, to mention a few. Hegel, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Marx are well-known names from this period. This, however, was also a transformative period for women philosophers in German-speaking countries and contexts. Their works are less well known yet offer stimulating and pathbreaking contributions to nineteenth-century thought. In this period, women philosophers explored a wide range of philosophical topics and styles. Throughout the movements of romanticism, idealism, socialism, and phenomenology, women philosophers helped shape philosophy’s agenda and provided unique approaches to existential, political, aesthetic, and epistemological questions. While during the nineteenth century women continued to be (largely) excluded from formal education and positions, they developed ways of philosophizing that were accessible, intuitive, and activist in spirit. The present volume makes available to English-language readers––often for the first time––the works of nine significant women philosophers, with the hope of stimulating further interest in and scholarship on their works. The editors’ introductions offer a comprehensive overview of the contributions of women philosophers in the period as well as to individual figures and movements. The translations are furnished with explanatory footnotes and are designed to be accessible to students as well as scholars.

Editors’ Introduction

The introduction offers an overview of women philosophers in nineteenth-century German philosophy. In particular, it emphasizes the growing self-awareness of women philosophers and their exploration of a practice-oriented and socially aware philosophy. It situates the work of women philosophers within the larger tradition and calls for a new narrative of nineteenth-century thought that acknowledges the contributions of women philosophers and their lasting significance.

Woman philosopher of the Pythagorean school about human nature and upbringing

The article offers academic translation into Ukrainian of a number of works by Pythagorean woman philosophers, which reveal the problems of human nature and personality education. The focus is on such pseudo-epigraphs of ancient woman thinkers as two letters by Theano of Crotone, letters of Miya of Crotone and Melissa, as well as treatises by Fintys of Sparta "On a woman prudence", Aesara of Lucania "On human nature" and excerpts from Porphyry’s "Pythagorean music" which contain fragments of the works of Ptolemais of Cyrene. The main themes of the above works and letters are the education of the individual in general, and women in particular. Accordingly, the basis of education should be an element of restraint and prudence in everything. If the child is brought up on this basis, he will be able to be strong and resilient during certain life situations. In the treatises of the Pythagorean women-philosophers it is noted that through the study of our own human nature (namely, the human soul) we can understand the philosophical foundations of natural law and morality. Therefore, a woman should use in her life not fleeting emotions and reactions to a particular event, situation, but also be moderate and prudent. These texts are significant in the context of understanding gender issues in the Hellenistic era. Based on the translated works, we can say that, according to thinkers, a number of virtues are common to both sexes (courage, justice and wisdom), moderation or abstinence are more common in women. At the same time, the limitation of the social role of women reflects an understanding of the nature of the female soul. Accordingly, the normative principle of harmony must be implemented in the context of the specific social roles allowed to women. At the same time, the availability of these texts indicates that philosophy is possible for both men and women, thus emphasizing the importance of involving the latter in knowledge and scientific knowledge.

INTRODUCTION

COLLOQUIUM IN THE HISTORY OF MORAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY The Canon Revisited: Women Philosophers

Feminism and Early Modern Philosophy

This chapter offers an account of the history and central issues in feminist philosophical engagements with early modern philosophy. The chapter describes a “first wave” of feminist scholarship on early modern philosophy, beginning around the 1990s, that involved examining the work of canonical male philosophers from a feminist perspective, as well as a “second wave” that focuses on the early modern women philosophers themselves. Projects involved in this second wave include (1) explaining why and how these works dropped out of view in the first place; (2) finding, editing, translating (when necessary), and publishing neglected or lost writings; (3) contextualizing, analyzing, and critiquing these works; and (4) theorizing about and experimenting with ways to integrate these works into narratives of the history of philosophy. The chapter ends with discussion of an emerging “third wave” of opportunities for publishing, presenting at conferences, and teaching about these women philosophers.

Feminist Engagements with the History of Philosophy

Feminist engagement with the Western philosophical canon is not a recent development; indeed, it stretches back at least to the Renaissance in the work of early feminist thinkers like the poet and philosopher Lucrezia Marinella. In The Nobility and Excellence of Women and the Defects and Vices of Men, Marinella uses an Aristotelian framework of bodily temperatures to argue for the superiority of women—a deeply ironic strategy of appropriation given Aristotle’s explicit and well-known views on the inferiority of the female animal. Still, the appropriation of canonical philosophers for use in feminist theorizing is an important strand in feminist engagement with the philosophical canon. And our knowledge of the existence of philosophers like Lucrezia Marinella exemplifies another facet of feminist engagement with the philosophical canon, namely the ongoing transformation of the history of Western philosophy to include the presence and voices of women philosophers. Other feminist historians of philosophy focus on uncovering and criticizing the sexism or misogyny in the thought of canonical philosophers like Aristotle and Kant (and many others). Finally, the proliferation of feminist engagements with the history of philosophy, and the questions that they raise about how contemporary philosophy is related to its past, has inspired reflection by feminist historians on the nature and methods of their discipline.