About Us
New Narratives in the History of Philosophy aims to develop new narratives of our philosophical past that centrally include women thinkers, and thereby to reconfigure, enrich and reinvigorate the philosophical canon, focusing on the early modern period (roughly 1560-1810).
Our efforts are supported with a Partnership Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Since at least the late 19th century, philosophical focus in the English speaking world, has been squarely set on seven central figures: Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Locke, Berkeley, Hume and Kant. These figures form the philosophical canon: they are central characters in a narrative of the history of philosophy. Two familiar themes drive the canonical early modern philosophical narrative: (a) the nature of the world and (b) our capacity as human beings to attain knowledge of that world. The canonical narrative has been complicating through aligning these themes with the history of science. We aim to successfully integrate into this history-of-science narrative, women such as Margaret Cavendish and Emilie du Châtelet, who were influential in their own time.
We also aim to develop new narratives, driven by new connecting themes. For instance, the canonical theme of the human capacity to attain knowledge of the world generates debate within the early modern period about what constitutes a person and who counts as a person, a debate that informs discussions of how persons should be educated, the basis of equality, and the nature and value of both personal and political autonomy, discussions that lead in turn to further debate about the structure of political communities. Each of these issues will provide the thematic structure of a narrative through which the century-old philosophical canon can be reconfigured, enriched and reinvigorated.
Our additional objectives are reflected in the projects found on this website. They include: building an international network of scholars, students and academic institutions supporting research on non-canonical philosophers; creating research tools including an open access website and a comprehensive annotated bibliography of primary sources; developing and shaping curricular resources to enrich the teaching of the history of philosophy; and increasing awareness among the general public of long neglected aspects of our intellectual past.
Our efforts are supported with a Partnership Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Since at least the late 19th century, philosophical focus in the English speaking world, has been squarely set on seven central figures: Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Locke, Berkeley, Hume and Kant. These figures form the philosophical canon: they are central characters in a narrative of the history of philosophy. Two familiar themes drive the canonical early modern philosophical narrative: (a) the nature of the world and (b) our capacity as human beings to attain knowledge of that world. The canonical narrative has been complicating through aligning these themes with the history of science. We aim to successfully integrate into this history-of-science narrative, women such as Margaret Cavendish and Emilie du Châtelet, who were influential in their own time.
We also aim to develop new narratives, driven by new connecting themes. For instance, the canonical theme of the human capacity to attain knowledge of the world generates debate within the early modern period about what constitutes a person and who counts as a person, a debate that informs discussions of how persons should be educated, the basis of equality, and the nature and value of both personal and political autonomy, discussions that lead in turn to further debate about the structure of political communities. Each of these issues will provide the thematic structure of a narrative through which the century-old philosophical canon can be reconfigured, enriched and reinvigorated.
Our additional objectives are reflected in the projects found on this website. They include: building an international network of scholars, students and academic institutions supporting research on non-canonical philosophers; creating research tools including an open access website and a comprehensive annotated bibliography of primary sources; developing and shaping curricular resources to enrich the teaching of the history of philosophy; and increasing awareness among the general public of long neglected aspects of our intellectual past.
Who We Are |
The New Narratives in the History of Philosophy project is led by Lisa Shapiro, a Professor of Philosophy at Simon Fraser University, Marguerite Deslauriers, Professor of Philosophy at McGill University, and Karen Detlefsen, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. We are collaborating with other historians of philosophy in Canada, the US, Australia, and Europe (including the UK, Finland, Turkey, Sweden, the Netherlands, and France.
|
Our History |
In a sense this project gets its start as far back as 1997 with a conference on early modern women philosophers organized by Eileen O'Neill at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The conference evoked interest in the long neglected women in our philosophical past, but these women's works were so long forgotten that it was hard to know how to proceed. Slowly, scholars have started to read and develop interpretations of a handful of these works by women. Largely, this research has occurred in a disjointed way. In recent years, perhaps because there is now an established body of scholarship or perhaps because the philosophical community is more attuned to the problem of the underrepresentation of women in the discipline, there has been a groundswell of interest in the works of early modern women. We realized that we needed to be coordinating our efforts, avoiding duplication of labours, sharing information and resources, and in short building a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Several of us met in person at a workshop hosted by Karen Detlefsen at Penn in Fall 2014, and devised a plan to host events, apply for external funding, and to build infrastructure, and most centrally to build a wider network. We've all been successful, and here we are!
|