Women Philosophers from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment

This collection of essays presents new work on womens contribution to philosophy between the Renaissance and the mid-eighteenth century. They bring a new perspective to the history of philosophy, by highlighting womens contributions to philosophy and testifying to the rich history of womens thought in this period. By showing that women were active in many branches of philosophy (metaphysics, science, political philosophy cosmology, ontology, epistemology) the book testifies to the rich history of womens thought across Europe in this period. The scope of the collection is international, both in terms of the philosophers represented and the contributors themselves from Britain and North America, but also from continental Europe and from as far afield as Australia and Brazil. The philosophers discussed here include both figures who have recently come to be better known (Elisabeth of Bohemia, Anne Conway, Mary Astell, Catharine Trotter Cockburn, Emilie du Chtelet), and less familiar figures (Moderata Fonte, Lucrezia Marinella Arcangela Tarabotti, Tullia dAragona, Madame Deshoulires, Madame de Sabl, Anglique de Saint-Jean Arnauld dAndilly, Oliva Sabuco, Susanna Newcome). The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the British Journal for the History of Philosophy.