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Modern Philosophy

Early Modern Women Philosophers

The overlooked contributions of early modern women who engaged critically with Cartesian and Enlightenment philosophy from within and against its dominant systems.

60-Second Review

Express review

A condensed, point-by-point summary of the module, for reviewing right before a test or exam.

  1. Elisabeth of Bohemia's Correspondence with Descartes. Elisabeth's letters exposed the mind-body union problem Descartes's dualism could not resolve.
  2. Anne Conway and the Metaphysics of Vital Monism. Conway replaced Cartesian dualism with a monist hierarchy of living, convertible substance.
  3. Mary Astell and the Case for Women's Rational Education. Astell used Cartesian reason itself to argue for women's rational education and self-governance.
  4. Damaris Masham and the Critique of Cartesian Dualism. Masham defended Lockean empiricism against Cartesian innatism and dualist accounts of virtue.
  5. Émilie du Châtelet and the Reception of Newton and Leibniz. Du Châtelet's Institutions synthesized Newtonian physics with Leibnizian metaphysics for France.
  6. Catharine Trotter Cockburn's Defense of Locke. Cockburn defended Locke's Essay against charges of undermining morality and the soul's immortality.
  7. Mary Wollstonecraft and the Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Wollstonecraft's Vindication applied Enlightenment rational rights to argue for women's equal education.
  8. Recovering Women's Voices in the Early Modern Canon. Systematic archival recovery since the 1980s has restored early modern women to the philosophical canon.

This module continues after "Social Contract Theory: Hobbes to Locke" in the syllabus. If you haven't reviewed it yet, it may help set the context.

Key points

Visual module map

1Elisabeth of Bohemia's Correspondence with Descartes
2Mary Astell and the Case for Women's Rational Education
3Émilie du Châtelet and the Reception of Newton and Leibniz
4Catharine Trotter Cockburn's Defense of Locke
5Recovering Women's Voices in the Early Modern Canon

Alternative visual view: a simplified sequence of some of the module's key points, in their order within the syllabus.

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Final test

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Optional mini-games

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Review Flashcards

Review each key point with cards that flip to reveal the summary.

Memory

Match each concept with its definition in as few attempts as possible.

Time Attack

Answer true or false statements before time runs out.

Chronological Order

Put the module's key points back in their original order.

Further reading

Bibliography and cited sources used to create this module.

  • Shapiro, L. (Ed. and Trans.) (2007). The Correspondence between Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia and René Descartes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Hutton, S. (2004). Anne Conway: A Woman Philosopher. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Broad, J. (2002). Women Philosophers of the Seventeenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Perry, R. (1986). The Celebrated Mary Astell: An Early English Feminist. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Zinsser, J.P. (2006). Emilie du Châtelet: Daring Genius of the Enlightenment. New York: Viking.
  • O'Neill, E. (1998). Disappearing Ink: Early Modern Women Philosophers and Their Fate in History. In J.A. Kourany (Ed.), Philosophy in a Feminist Voice. Princeton: Princeton University Press.