In Search of Understanding – A History of Female Thinkers
Of the joys of thinking
When you open any ordinary history of philosophy, you will be left with the impression that thinking is an exclusively male prerogative. And you’d have a hard time finding any traces of female philosophers. Yet they did exist, and not just in recent times, when women were allowed to enter the realms of professional, i.e. academically recognized, philosophical thought, but ever since antiquity. And they have always taught philosophy too, since antiquity, although the number of female professors of philosophy has always been negligible, and remains so to this day.
Ingeborg Gleichauf introduces us to 45 female thinkers. Starting with the Pythagorean Theano of Croton (ca. 550 B.C.) and culminating with the ethics specialist Martha Craven Nussbaum (born in 1947), she focuses on their ideas or the school of thought with which they are associated. In this way a compact history of philosophy emerges, showing that women have always philosophised. It’s just that the circumstances have not been propitious for doing so aloud.
- A compact history of philosophy, especially suitable for philosophy newbies
- About the thinking and work of Hypatia, Hildegard of Bingen, Hannah Arendt, Simone de Beauvoir, Edith Stein, Martha Nussbaum and many others
Ingeborg Gleichauf
Ingeborg Gleichauf, born in Freiburg in 1953, studied philosophy and German literature, and now works as a freelance author.
.jpg?ts=1718194529 "Ingeborg Gleichauf")