Ten Women Philosophers

With an unprecedented afterword on the influence of women on Brazilian philosophical thought, Ten Women Philosophers presents biographical portraits of thinkers from the 12th to the 20th centuries who made a decisive contribution to our knowledge of the world.

Philosophy is a mode of inquiry, a rational exercise aimed at understanding the foundation and origin of things—an experience inherent to human beings. In this sense, while it is astonishing to note that the global philosophical canon is composed almost exclusively of men, it is natural that women also sought to question and think philosophically. However, with a few exceptions in antiquity (Aspasia of Miletus or Hypatia of Alexandria, of whom no written texts have survived), they emerged relatively late in philosophy. This is explained by the fact that patriarchal societies did not provide them with access to culture and the opportunity to obtain recognition. It is a vicious cycle: lack of freedom and ignorance condition unfree thought, which, in turn, impedes liberation through questioning.

This book is a collection of profiles of ten women who, over the centuries, managed to establish themselves in the field of philosophical thought, even though their living conditions remained limited. We are introduced to the scholasticism of Heloise, the mysticism of Hildegard of Bingen, the medievalism of Christina de Pisano, the Enlightenment of Émilie du Châtelet, the Romanticism of Ricarda Huch, the phenomenology of Edith Stein, the social activism of Simone Weil, the political philosophy of Hannah Arendt, the existentialism of Simone de Beauvoir, and the responsibility in a globalized world championed by Jeanne Hersch.

Women's philosophy has always been an act of self-liberation and emancipation. Through these exemplary portraits, Ten Women Philosophers sheds light on a journey that is long and arduous, but also intellectually stimulating and entertaining. To complement it, an afterword commissioned especially for this edition, written by Nastassja Pugliese (Professor of Philosophy of Education at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), identifies some exponents of women's contributions to the field of Brazilian philosophy.