Thinking Women SIX FEMALE PHILOSOPHERS THROUGHOUT HISTORY THAT CHANGED THE WORLD WITH THEIR THOUGHTS
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INTRODUCTION After being assigned to create a design-based project and final product revolving around the world philosophy and its contributions to the world, I found myself wondering what area of philosophy, or person, I should focus on. After typing in “famous philosophers” online, I realized that of the thirty five images of people that immediately appeared, only one was a woman-- Simone de Beauvoir. I couldn’t seem to figure why only one female was represented in this google search that essentially summarized the history of philosophy-- how could half of the world’s population be left out of this history? And why is it that if someone was asked to name a famous philosopher they may likely say a man’s name rather than a woman’s? How could I make the achievements of these thinking women, their findings, their history, further recognized? That was when I decided to focus my project on not just one influential female philosopher from history, but many. I was interested in creating a small magazine layout that explained, with a focus on six philosophers, a small history of female influence on the world of philosophy, spanning from the 300’s to the present day. By using graphic arts as a vehicle to present the findings and lives of six women, my goal is to give these females the recognition they deserve among the other philosophers in history that often overshadow them.
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Hypatia of Alexandria Lady Anne Conway Mary Wollstonecraft Simone de Beauvoir Iris Murdoch Judith Butler Those Involved Sources
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“ R E S E R V E Y O U R R I G H T T O T H I N K , F O R E V E N T O T H I N K W R O N G L Y I S B E T T E R T H A N T O N O T T H I N K A T A L L . ”
HYPATIA of alexandria C. 370 AD- 415 AD
PHILOSOPHER, ASTRONOMER, MATHEMATICIAN
A leading philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer during her time, Hypatia of Alexandria was born in c. 370 AD, the daughter of the philosopher Theon. After being educated in Athens, she went on to become the head of the Platonist school at Alexandria, where she taught the teachings of Plato and Aristotle, as well as philosophy and astronomy to students. Though none of her writings survive today, it is thought that she taught ideas relating to different levels of reality and humanity’s ability to understand them. She seems to have believed that everything in the natural world emanates from “the one”; she believed that the material world is less real than that of the mind or spirit, and believed there was a large distinction between ‘body and soul, matter and spirit.” Hypatia was often regarded as a well respected philosopher, despite the fact that
that she was a woman in a time when being a woman often limited one’s opportunities. In fact, she wasn’t afraid to speak at assemblies full of men. Socrates Scholasticus even wrote that “she far surpassed all the philosophers of her time,” and was greatly respected by many for her “extraordinary dignity and virtue.” She was often said to be wearing her “philosopher’s cloak in the streets” as she spoke boldly to crowds. Because her philosophy was Neoplatonist, which was seen as a pagan philosophy at the time, and likely because she was a woman, Hypatia became the victim of a harsh murder at the hands of a gang of Christian zealots in 415 AD--she was dragged through the streets, and burned at the stake. Today, she is seen as a powerful feminist symbol because of her ability to overcome gender barriers and voice her philosophies to the world during her time.
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HYPATIA OF ALEXANDRIA
“ N A T U R E I S N O T S I M P L Y A N O R G A N I C B O D Y L I K E A C L O C K , W H I C H H A S N O V I T A L P R I N C I P L E O F M O T I O N I N I T ; B U T I T I S A L I V I N G B O D Y W H I C H H A S L I F E A N D P E R C E P T I O N . ”
LADY ANNE c o n w a y
1631-1671 AD ENGLISH PHILOSOPHER & AUTHOR
Lady Anne Conway was born in London in 1631 to a well educated family. As she grew older, she made the acquaintance of one of the University of Cambridge Platonists, Henry More, through her brother, who agreed to instruct her in philosophy. Though Anne was not allowed to attend the school itself because of her gender, More was able to teach her through letters. Anne Conway later married Edward, third Viscount Conway, whose family possessed one of the finest private libraries of her time-- and luckily, her husband supported his wife’s intellectual interests, which allowed her to continue her studies. She was a follower of Descartes with an interest in the Kabbalah (a Jewish Method of thought) as well as Quakerism later in life, and her philosophy was much preoccupied with the question of substance; she doubted the existence of inert matter, and developed a God-based theory of nature as an integrated material and mental order. Overall, her beliefs are a work of Platonist metaphysics, where she derives her system of philosophy from the existence and attributes of God. Anne Conway’s philosophy is not only unique because it was developed by a woman,
but because it was a rationalist philosophy that was different from other philosophies of her time. Only one of her works survives; Principles of the Most Ancient and Modern Philosophy was published posthumously (and anonymously) in 1690. Though she died in 1679 at the age of 47, Anne Conway is seen as an important female philosopher because her works were able to be published during a time when this was highly unlikely for a woman. Though it is quite sad her works were published anonymously because of her gender, her philosophies represented a woman’s voice where their voices weren’t often heard.
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LADY ANNE CONWAY
“ M A K E W O M E N R A T I O N A L C R E A T U R E S , & F R E E C I T I Z E N S & T H E Y W I L L Q U I C K L Y B E C O M E G O O D W I V E S ; T H A T I S , N E G L E C T T H E D U T I E S O F H U S B A N D S A N D F A T H E R S . ”
MARY
wollstonecraft 1759-1797 AD ENGLISH SCHOLAR, PHILOSOPHER, FEMINIST, ACTIVIST, & JOURNALIST
A feminist writer and intellectual, Mary was born in 1759 in London, England. She was brought up by an abusive father after her mother died, but eventually was able to leave and dedicate herself to a life of writing. After establishing a school with her sister and best friend, Wollstonecraft wrote on her experience teaching and created the pamphlet, Thoughts on the Education of Daughters in 1787. Sadly, her friend died, and Mary went to work as a governess after a period of mourning.
Luckily, Wollstonecraft later left her governess position and became a translator and advisor to Joseph Johnson, who at the time was a publisher of radical texts. Under him, Wollstonecraft published her most famous work-- A Vindication of the Rights of Woman from 1792, which was revolutionary and highly controversial during her time. It concerned ideas regarding women’s rights, and Wollstonecraft clearly takes a position where she detests the notions that women are helpless household adornments. She states that society breeds ‘gentle domestic brutes’, and that women, because of their confined existence in society, become frustrated and therefore turn into tyrants over their children and servants. Wollstonecraft also states that the key to progress is reform in education, which would give women access to the same educational opportunities as men. Wollstonecraft sadly passed away at age 38 in 1797 after giving birth to her daughter Mary Shelley (who would later go on to write the famous story Frankenstein,) but her influence is lasting. As a woman who pressed for women’s equality by writing, she sparked educational reform through her works that marked a change for women’s rights all around England. Thanks, Mary!
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MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
“ T H I S H A S A L W A Y S B E E N A M A N ’ S W O R L D , & N O N E O F T H E R E A S O N S T H A T H A V E B E E N O F F E R E D I N E X P L A N A T I O N H A V E S E E M E D A D E Q U A T E . ”
SIMONE de Beauvoir 1908-1986 AD FRENCH PHILOSOPHER, WOMEN’S RIGHTS ACTIVIST & JOURNALIST
Though her work is often overshadowed by her lover who was also a philosopher, Jean-Pierre Sartre, Beauvoir is well known for creating an education in traditional philosophy that focused on much more radical explorations of existentialism and feminism. Beauvoir was born in 1908 in France and was a writer, existentialist philosopher, political activist, intellectual, feminist and social theorist. After gaining encouragement from her father, who would boast “Simone thinks like a man,” Simone went on to write many diverse works regarding ethics, feminism, politics, and even fiction, as well as become a teacher and famous feminist figure. Simone’s most important works perhaps were The Ethics of Ambiguity, which included ideas regarding “the spirit of seriousness” in which people “too readily identify with certain abstractions at the expense of individual freedom and responsibility.” She also wrote The Second Sex, which is said to have sparked the second wave of feminism, where she argued that the negative way women are treated in society influences how they are seen and how women see themselves. De Beauvoir wanted to expose Western philosophy’s male mask that they had been wearing for hundreds of years.
Simone’s ideas were so influential that, sadly, she was dismissed from teaching after a parent made a complaint against her from “corrupting one of her female students” with ideas. Luckily however, Beauvoir went on to continue authoring other important works that concerned gender equality and existentialist ideas until her death in 1986, and today she remains one of the most influential female philosophers in history.
SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR
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“ W E L I V E I N A F A N T A S Y W O R L D , A W O R L D O F I L L U S I O N . T H E G R E A T T A S K I N L I F E I S T O F I N D R E A L I T Y . ”
I R I S
murdoch 1919-1999 AD
PHILOSOPHER, AUTHOR, & LITERARY CRITIC
Iris Murdoch, who was born in 1919, was an Irish author and philosopher who was best known for her novels about morality, sexual relationships, the power of the unconscious, and good and evil. After growing up and graduating with honors from Somerville College, a university for women, in 1942, she worked as assistant principal for the British Treasury, and later took a job with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. Soon, she left this job to pursue a philosophy studentship at the university of Cambridge. Here, Murdoch became exposed to the ideas of who was the leading professor of the philosophy department Ludwig Wittgenstein-she initially rejected his beliefs in favor of existentialism, a theory that emphasizes the idea that an individual person can develop based on their own acts of will. Eventually, she decided to become a Platonist, and in 1948 became a philosophy tutor at St. Anne’s College in Oxford, where she would remain, continuously writing philosophy and fiction. Much of her philosophical writings ed to her art-- and her writings remain influential and relevant to the world even today.
were influenced by Simone Weil (A French philosopher) and Plato, and developed ideas that combined moral realism or naturalism which allowed things such as humility and generosity in the philosophical world, and many of her ideas paid attention to moral virtues and emphasized ‘seeing’ moral facts. One of her books, The Sea, The Sea, even won Booker Prize in 1978. Sadly, in 1995, Murdoch was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and writing became difficult, and she passed away in 1999. However, her impact is lasting; she was a prolific novelist, and she was a woman devoted ed to her art-- and her writings remain influential and relevant to the world even today.
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IRIS MURDOCH
“ M A S C U L I N & F E M I N I N R O L E S A R E N O B I O L O G I C A L L F I X E D B U S O C I A L L C O N S T R U C T E D .
E E T Y T Y ”
JUDITH b u t l e r
1956- AD AMERICAN PHILOSOPHER, GENDER THEORIST, FEMINIST
Judith Butler was born in 1956 in Cleveland, Ohio, to a dentist father and housing advocate mother. Her theories involving the performative nature of sex and gender were largely influential within Francocentric philosophy, queer theory, cultural theory, and some schools of philosophical feminism from the late 20th century. After attending Bennington College and receiving a BA in 1978 at Yale University, she would go on to teach at Wesleyan University, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, as well as University of California, Berkeley. Butler’s best known work is perhaps Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity(1990), which, along with its sequel Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of ‘Sex’ (1993), discusses the cultural-theoretic assumption that gender is socially constructed rather
than the conventional notion that the gender and sexuality serve to perpetuate the domination of women by men in society, and that the justify the oppression of both transgender and homosexual people. Another One of her innovations suggests that gender is constituted by action and speech. In the political realm, early on Butler’s activism centered around feminist and queer issues. For a time, she even served as the chair of the board of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Recently, Butler has been involved with the occupy movement, as well as been active in feminist, anti-war, and gay and lesbian rights moements. Today, Judith Butler lives in Berkeley, California, where she lives with her partner, a political scientist Wendy Brown, and their adopted son.
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JUDITH BUTLER
those involved
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Hypatia of Alexandria
Mary Wollstonecraft
Lady Anne Conway
Olivia Loomis
Sydney Widell
Grace Reckmeyer
Celeste Carroll Advanced Graphic Design student & High School Senior
04 Simone de Beauvoir Claire Howland
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Iris Murdoch
Judith Butler
Meghan Curtis
Marlee Lane
Jeff Zimpel Advanced Graphic Design Teacher
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Biography.com Editors. “Simone De Beauvoir Biography.” Bio.com. A&E Net works Television, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
Deakin, Michael. “Hypatia.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Bri tannica, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
Duignan, Brian. “Judith Butler.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
Gauntlett, David. “Www.theory.org.uk Resources: Judith Butler.” Www.theory. org.uk Resources: Judith Butler. Theory.org.uk, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
Hutton, Sarah. “Lady Anne Conway.” Stanford University. Stanford University, 13 Feb. 2003. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
Levenson, Ellie. “Ten Great Female Philosophers: The Thinking Woman’s Wom en.” The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
“The Life of Hypatia.” Socrates Scholasticus:. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
Mussett, Shannon. “Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.” Internet Encyclo pedia of Philosophy. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
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