Return to APA Newsletters IndexThe following appeared in Volume 97, Number 1 (Fall 1997) of the APA Newsletters
Newsletter on Feminism and Philosophy
Hypatia's Daughters: Fifteen Hundred Years of Women Philosophers
Reviewed by
Julie M. Zilberberg
Hypatia’s Daughters: Fifteen Hundred Years of Women Philosophers, Linda Lopez McAlister, ed. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1996.
Reviewed by Julie M. Zilberberg.
Hypatia’s Daughters is, according to McAlister, the first book-length set of articles about women philosophers from history. The book is titled Hypatia’s Daughters: Fifteen Hundred Years of Women Philosophers because Hypatia is one of the best known women philosophers of the ancient period, and because most of the recent work in the history of women philosophers has been concerned with those who lived in the fifteen hundred years since Hypatia. Most of the articles contained in the book first appeared in the journal Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy.
The introduction gives insight into McAlister’s experiences as she began studying women philosophers of the past. She discusses the assumption made by many that these women must be poor philosophers, or they would have appeared in courses and books on the history of philosophy. She describes the anger she felt about the fact that first, they were nearly erased from history, and second, that there is a resulting deprivation of foremothers in philosophy for persons studying philosophy in the present time. Her introduction is also useful for its account of the recent burgeoning of this area of study. She gives a history of the study of the history of women philosophers. We can also look forward to Eileen O’Neill’s eagerly awaited anthologies of the original works of seventeenth and eighteenth century women philosophers. The book can function as an introduction to several women philosophers from history for those curious about the subject. It is certainly of interest to anyone already working in the area of women philosophers. It is a suitable text for a graduate or advanced undergraduate level course in the history of women philosophers, in which primary sources would also be provided. For faculty wishing to enrich their standard undergraduate or graduate level courses in the history of philosophy, this book will be useful in the selection of which women philosophers to include for study.
Each article has a list of references following it. This is helpful to readers eager for more material. However, a list of books and materials recommended for further reading, with descriptions and suggestions about each, would have been even better.
There are eighteen articles about various women philosophers from history, including Hypatia, Hildegard of Bingen, Heloise (and her teacher Peter Abelard), Christine de Pisan (and Thomas Hobbes), Elizabeth, Princess Palatine who is also known as Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia, Anne Viscountess Conway, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Damaris Cudworth Masham, Catharine Trotter (married name: Cockburn), Belle van Zuylen, Mary Wollstonecraft, Anna Doyle Wheeler, Harriet Taylor Mill, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Edith Stein, Hannah Arendt, and Angela Davis.
The first article grabs the reader’s attention. It is Ursule Molinaro’s short creative piece in which she re-imagines the murder of Hypatia. A brief word on just a few of the remaining articles follows.
At the end of her essay on Heloise and Abelard, Andrea Nye raises some very interesting questions about how philosophy is at times practiced today, what the future will hold, and what part women will have in philosophy. This article will likely be of interest to those dissatisfied with the way philosophy is sometimes done, and to those with a special interest in teaching philosophy effectively.
Karen Green’s article on Christine de Pisan and Thomas Hobbes will be of interest to any Hobbes scholar. In it, she argues against Carole Pateman’s objection that Hobbes’s argument is inconsistent and against Pateman’s total rejection of social contract theory. Green advances her own criticism of Hobbes, arguing that the situation of women shows a mistake in Hobbes’s logic.
Catriona Mackenzie argues that alleged problems arising from Wollstonecraft’s treatment of the distinctions between reason and passion, and between the public and the private, are not so clear cut. Rather, according to Mackenzie, Wollstonecraft tries to reconcile these oppositions, and attempts to disentangle them from the masculine/feminine distinction.
Judith Mary Green’s and Blanche Radford Curry’s appropriately titled article, "Notorious Philosopher," about Angela Davis, gives an account of Davis’ remarkable life of activism and scholarship as well as her experiences as a political fugitive on the FBI’s "Ten Most Wanted Criminals" list. The authors draw attention throughout the article to Davis’ contribution to social transformation theory. Some theoretical problems in Davis’ work are addressed. This final article in Hypatia’s Daughters ends with the authors’ affirmation of Davis as a hero and extraordinary philosopher whose activism permeates both her life and theory.
This is a very good collection of insightful articles representing several women philosophers from various angles. Although the focus of each article is different, the reader is generally exposed to their biographical information, their feminism and social philosophy, and sometimes a presentation of their ideas in relation to prominent men philosophers. Many articles directly defend the importance of these women philosophers’ thought. The articles in Hypatia’s Daughters demonstrate that many women philosophers from history who have been largely unknown are worthy of study in the historical canon of philosophy.