This year’s Wollstonecraft Society Lecture will be given by Natalie Haynes, writer, classicist, journalist, broadcaster and comedian. She has written a series of novels based on classical mythology. The latest one, No Friend to this House, is about Jason, the Argonauts and Medea.
The lecture, Myth vs Reality, will take place on Tuesday 28 April at 6:30 at Regent Street Cinema, London.
Tickets are free but you need to register here.
See also here for more details about the event.
As one of the first cosmopolitans, a host to important salons in Paris and Coppet, a first-hand witness of the horrors of the French Revolution, and a politically involved author of best-selling novels, political pamphlets, intercultural studies, and philosophical treatises, Germaine de Staël (1766–1817) became a unique figure in the early modern world. Intellectually, she was influenced by a broad range of traditions, most importantly by the late French and Scottish Enlightenment, 18th century sentimentalism, British Whiggism, eighteenth-century sentimentalism, and Early German Romanticism. Staël’s philosophical work can be regarded as an original attempt to unite Enlightened and Romantic traditions, thereby developing a novel theory of the modern liberal individual.
Attendance is in person, but in case you would like to audit online, please send Eveline Groot (e.j.a.groot@esphil.eur.nl) a message.
For questions about the event, please contact Eveline Groot at e.j.a.groot@esphil.eur.nl.
The program and registration details are here.
University of Edinburgh, 14–15 May 2026, Douglas Stewart Building (Room 1.20),3 Charles Street, EH8 9AD
14 MAY
11.00-11.15. Welcome
11.15-12.00 Frans Svensson (University of Gothenburg), Descartes on Failing to Act Well
12.00-12.45 Michael Jaworzyn (MFO, Oxford), Tschirnhaus and the Cartesians
Chair: David Harmon (St. Andrews)
12.45-14.00 Lunch
14.00-15.00 Keynote. Julia Borcherding (Cambridge University), A Remarkably Gifted Woman’: Some Further Thoughts on the Leibniz-Masham Exchange
Chair: Pauline Phemister (Edinburgh University)
Break
15.15-16.00 Hina Nazar (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), The Pleasure Principle in Early Modern Feminist Philosophy: Mary Astell and Damaris Masham on Desire and Self-Governance
16.00-16.45 Matthew Anderson (Monash University), Stoicism and Slander in Marie de Gournay
Chair: Meg Gottschall (St. Andrews)
Break
17.00-17.45. Goran Gaber (IHRIM, Lyon), Critique and Early Modern Philosophy – An Emic Perspective
Chair: Farhad Alavi (Edinburgh)
15 MAY
9.00-9.15 Welcome
9.15-10. 00 Claudia Dumitru (Yale University), Hobbes on Power Estimation and the Passions of the Mind
10.00-10.45 Emma Barettoni (Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Storici, Naples), Vengeance or Punishment: Justice, Anger, and Indignation in Thomas Hobbes
Chair: Boxiang Yu (Edinburgh University)
Break
11.00-12.00 Keynote. Alexander Douglas (University of St. Andrews), Whatever We Can Think of Is Real: Spinoza and Cartesian Theories of the Content of Ideas
Chair: Enrico Galvagni (Edinburgh University)
12.00-13.00 Lunch
13.15-14.00 Francesco Ciocconi (University of Salento), Thomas Burnet as Historian of Philosophy
14.00-14.45 Olivia Branscum (University of Oklahoma), Panpsychist Materialism in the Age of Milton
Chair: Mogens Lærke (CNRS, Lyon/Oxford)
Break
15.00-15.45 Jen Nguyen (Bucknell University), Changing Descartes’s Algebra: Leibniz’s Calculus of Situations Revisited
15 :45-16 :30
Chair: Jennifer Marusic (Edinburgh University)
Organisation: Michael Gill (Edinburgh), Enrico Galvagni (Edinburgh), Jennifer Marusic (Edinburgh), Mogens Lærke (CNRS)
Funding: Edinburgh University / Scots Philosophical Association (SPA) / NOTCOM (ERC AdG 101052433).
23 March 6:00pm-7:30pm
Abstract:
When we think of the periods in European history when women were able to do philosophy, the Middle Ages may hardly come to mind as providing favourable conditions for this activity. One may argue that on the basis of their gender – or, more precisely, the notion of women’s supposedly lesser reasoning capabilities that was advanced at the time – they received no education whatsoever, and were subsequently barred from the places where medieval philosophy was developed, namely universities manned by scholastics. Thus, they were excluded from all intellectual pursuits, especially philosophical debates. At least two premises outlined here, however, are not true, rendering this argument unsound.
On the one hand, the Christian Middle Ages produced two environments where women were able to pursue learning. These were convents and beguinages – semi-monastic communities situated outside the patriarchal ecclesiastical hierarchy, where women lived together without taking vows. On the other hand, medieval philosophy is much richer with respect to content, form and language than those which are often assumed to determine its limits: the codified summas, glosses and commentaries on Aristotle written in Latin at universities and in other exclusively male spaces.
And so, we find many interesting ideas put forward by medieval nuns and beguines that are philosophically nuanced in terms of both the subject matter and style, composed not only in Latin but also in vernacular, such as medieval dialects of French, Dutch, German and Italian. Importantly (and somewhat problematically), most of these women – with a few notable exceptions – established their authority to do philosophy as based on divine revelation. It is for this reason that they have been traditionally recognised only as ‘medieval female mystics’ and left out of the philosophical canon.
In this talk, we will look at the works written by several medieval women philosophers, and offer some strategies for addressing these and other difficulties hindering their recognition as such.
This talk is free and online but booking is required, here.
You can watch the talk Tatiana gave last year at the Cambridge Festival on Youtube.
Just out on Oxford Academic Online and in print in March or June (depending where you are in the world), this book features eleven chapters on women political philosophers who engaged with republican thought from the 18th to the early 20th century, in Brazil, Britain, France, Italy, Turkey, and the US.
The aim of this volume is both to introduce readers to the deep, varied, and theoretically rich history of women writing within the republican political tradition, and to produce cutting-edge research on the philosophical contribution that women have made. The authors discuss not only women philosophers whose Republican credentials are already well established, such as Catharine Macaulay and Mary Wollstonecraft, but also include many lesser known republicans, including from nations and traditions that have been underrepresented or wholly excluded by mainstream and Anglo-American republican writing (e.g. Brazilian, Turkish, Italian, African American women), covering a large period from the eighteenth to early twentieth centuries.
Sandrine Bergès, University of York, Bilkent University
Alan Coffee, King’s College London
Karen Green, University of Melbourne
Eveline Groot, Erasmus School of Philosophy, Rotterdam
Lena Halldenius, Lund University
Nastassja Pugliese, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
Banu Turnaoğlu, Sabancı University/University of Cambridge
Serena Vantin, Università di Bologna
Nicolai von Eggers, Aarhus University
Philip Yaure, Virginia Tech
Şuhnaz Yılmaz, Koç University
Editors: Karen Green (University of Melbourne) & Ruth Edith Hagengruber (Paderborn University)
By the beginning of the nineteenth century, political thought had shifted away from Enlightenment ideals of moral progress and toward a more scientific conception of political and economic developments grounded in economic theory. Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations inspired widespread interest in political economy. Women such as Jane Marcet and Harriet Martineau emerged as early popularisers and interpreters of this new science.
By mid-century, women in Italy, France, Germany, England, and beyond were publishing influential critiques and analyses addressing political economy, labour exploitation, the nature of exploitation, the marriage market and sexual economy, capitalism’s defects and benefits, women’s property rights, the nature of women’s work, and the economic role of the family.
This themed issue invites contributions that explore the role of women in shaping political-economic debates during the nineteenth century.
Please submit your article for the 2026 themed issue before 30 March 2026.
Articles for publication in the Journal of the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists must be submitted online through Editorial Manager.
To submit an article, click here.
For more details on online submission, please visit our EM Support page.
Download Author Instructions (PDF).
If you have any questions please contact the editors:
Karen Green: karen.green(at)unimelb.edu.au
Ruth Edith Hagengruber: ruth.hagengruber(at)upb.de
CFP: The Northern Seminar in Late Modern Philosophy II – Deadline Extended to January 30th
18-19 June 2026, University of Durham, UK
Keynote Speakers
Maria-Dimova Cookson (Durham)
Mark Textor (KCL)
The second meeting of the annual Northern Seminar in Late Modern Philosophy will be held at the University of Durham. This seminar is modelled on the many seminars in Early Modern Philosophy. However, it covers a later historical period. It focuses on philosophy from the nineteenth to the mid twentieth century, i.e, roughly Hegel to Stebbing. The aim is to bring together established scholars, graduate students, and young researchers who work on various different areas and philosophers from this era and encourage a productive dialogue. Papers on any subject in late modern philosophy are welcome. There will be a reading time of approximately 30 mins for the paper with an additional 15 mins for Q&A. We will select up to 12 papers and there will be no concurrent sessions.
The deadline for submitting abstracts (of no more than 300 words) has been extended to 30 January 2026. Please send a single pdf which includes your abstract and contact information. These should be sent to Jeremy Dunham at Jeremy.w.dunham@durham.ac.uk
This seminar has been made possible thanks to the generous funding of the Aristotelian Society, The Hegel Society of Great Britain, and Durham University.
Website: https://latemodernphilosophy.weebly.com/
Dates: June 14–19, 2026
Location: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Topic: “Early Modern Debates About Slavery”
Instructor: Julia Jorati (Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
Course Description:
In 17th and 18th-century Europe and America, there were intense debates about various aspects of slavery. These debates form a crucial but understudied part of the history of early modern philosophy. They contain discussions about many central philosophical questions and often approach these questions from surprisingly different angles—for instance, questions from moral and political philosophy, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and epistemology. In this seminar, we will analyze a few early modern texts about slavery by canonical authors and by authors who aren’t widely known but whose contributions are at least as important.
Application: Applicants should send a letter of interest and CV to Prof. Eileen Sweeney by using this form.
Qualifications: PhD in the topic area of the seminar received no earlier than January 1, 2021 and no later than January 1, 2026. AOS in the area relevant to the seminar and a good reading knowledge of the necessary language(s) is required.
Deadline for submission: The deadline for applications is February 1, 2026. Notifications will be made by March 15, 2026.
Please direct questions to either Julia Jorati (jjorati@umass.edu) or Eileen Sweeney (eileen.sweeney@bc.edu)
This is the time when we plan and make resolutions – and when we look for role models. So here’s something that can help you do all of these: a Revolutionary Women planner.
Please also help yourselves to a 2026 Liberty in Their Names calendar.
Happy New Year!
Natalia Zorrilla Sirlin and Eleonora Alfano are pleased to announce that the fourth session of the Second Cycle (2025-2026) of the International Seminar “And Philosophy Created Woman/ And Woman Created Philosophy: Disciplinary Intersections Gender Equality in Early Modernity” will be held on Wednesday, December 17.
This session will run from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM (Montreal/EDT) and 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM (Venice/CET).
Program of the session:
Allauren Forbes (McMaster University)
Marriage as microcosm.
Laurence Vanoflen (Université Paris Nanterre)
Discipliner les femmes fin XVIII siècle? L’exemple de trois romans européens: Burney, Gélieu, Souza.
Remote Participation:
If you would like to receive the link to participate remotely in the seminar, we kindly ask all those who want to attend to fill out the registration form tinyurl.com/philofemme
Philo-Women Program (2025-2026)
We look forward to seeing you all again for a new session of Philo-Women,
Eleonora Alfano (McGill) & Natalia Zorrilla Sirlin (Ca’ Foscari di Venezia)
Scientific and Organizing Committee of the Seminar
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Natalia Zorrilla Sirlin et Eleonora Alfano sont ravies de vous annoncer que la quatrième séance du Second Cycle (2025-2026) du Séminaire International “Et la philosophie créa la femme / Et la femme créa la philosophie : L’intersection des savoirs autour de l’égalité des sexes durant la première modernité” se tiendra mercredi 17 décembre.
Cette séance se déroulera de 10:00 à 12:00 (Montréal/EDT) et de 16:00 à 18:00 (Venise/CET).
Programme de la séance:
Allauren Forbes (McMaster University)
Marriage as microcosm.
Laurence Vanoflen (Université Paris Nanterre)
Discipliner les femmes fin XVIII siècle ? L’exemple de trois romans européens : Burney, Gélieu, Souza.
Participation à distance:
Si vous souhaitez recevoir le lien afin de participer à distance au séminaire, nous vous prions de bien vouloir remplir le formulaire d’inscription : tinyurl.com/philofemme
Programme Philo-Femmes (2025-2026)
Au plaisir de vous retrouver toutes et tous pour une nouvelle séance de Philo-Femmes,
Eleonora Alfano (McGill University) & Natalia Zorrilla Sirlin (Ca’ Foscari di Venezia)
Comité scientifique et d’organisation du Séminaire
Feminist History of Philosophy 