History of Women Philosophers and Scientists

02/06/2026

📅 09 June 2026
🕟 16:30–18:00 (Paris Time)
💻 Online (Zoom)

The New Voices on Women in the History of Philosophy network, hosted by the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, connects early-career researchers working on women philosophers, scientists, and writers across traditions. This Spring 2026 edition is a joint initiative with University of Paderborn, Saint Joseph University of Beirut & University of Lorraine. Organized by Jil Muller, Marguerite El Asmar Bou Aoun, Daniel Fischer & Katia Raya.

Talks:
🔹 Roula Azar Douglas
Women’s Digital Voices and the Reconfiguration of Public Debate
Focus: women’s digital participation in political, philosophical, religious, and secular debates; social media as spaces of legitimacy, dissent, and community-building; storytelling, pedagogy, and online solidarity networks; women challenging traditional gatekeepers through digital communication. […]

🔹 Marianne Najm Abou Jaoude
Beneficent Communication as Power
Focus: constructive forms of women’s agency in digital media ecologies; ethics of communication through the categories safe, responsible, and beneficent; women’s digital practices in religious, civic, and grassroots contexts; AI ethics, peacebuilding, and inclusive communication structures. […]

Zoom link and further information about the speakers and talks: https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/event/new-voices-talk-by-marianne-najm-abou-jaoude-roula-azar-douglas/

WomenInMedia DigitalCommunication FeministPhilosophy PublicDebate WomenScholars

30/05/2026

We are delighted to announce that the commentary to the first set of chapters of Du Châtelet’s Institutions de physique is now available online!

The chapters released – Chapters 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 – address some of the most ambitious topics of the Institutions: space and time, the divisibility of matter, the solidity, porosity, and cohesion of bodies, and the nature of the simple elements that ground extended beings. The commentary, written by Dr. Pierpaolo Betti, helps the reader identify the main sources Du Châtelet drew upon in composing these chapters by providing full references to the text she mentiones or paraphrases.

This release marks a further important step in the wider historical-critical edition of the Institutions: in the coming months, the commentary to the remaining chapters will be made available online, until the full text of the Institutions is covered.

You can consult the commentary to Chapters 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 here:
· CHAPTER FIVE https://dcpm.historyofwomenphilosophers.org/documents/view/chapter_five
· CHAPTER SIX https://dcpm.historyofwomenphilosophers.org/documents/view/chapter_six
· CHAPTER EIGHT https://dcpm.historyofwomenphilosophers.org/documents/view/chapter_eight
· CHAPTER NINE https://dcpm.historyofwomenphilosophers.org/documents/view/chapter_nine
· CHAPTER TEN https://dcpm.historyofwomenphilosophers.org/documents/view/chapter_ten

28/05/2026

The paper Out of the Box – into the Green and the Blue (Hagengruber 2021) asks how political thinking and practice in a mature information society can be patterned. Floridi brands his view as a »naïve« approach if »forward« is a return to naivety. »This shift, he holds, is more flexible, inclusive, and unbounded« (Floridi 2020, 316).How does artificial intelligence help to support the good we are striving for? The good defined and asked for is not a new God, it is the understanding of being interrelated. To know more is the only way to follow the good and to do better.

When we apply these ideas to the realm of economics they become clearer, as so many of the failings of capitalism are due exactly to this ignorance and lack of information. The idea that the implicit ethics of an information society can perform a turn from quantitative economic growth theories towards a »new« economics of quality is therefore justified. Though the application of AI has disruptive effects on the economy and society and demonstrates a new kind of monopoly and economic concentration and has deepened the gap between developed and developing countries up to today, it is not absurd to ask if informed economics has a favorable effect on economics when drafted on the above basis. The question of how to sketch an inclusive and sustainable technological change is a necessary demand on the possibilities of AI: inclusive, sustainable and paying attention to human’s nestedness.

We all understand and have long been confronted with the absurdity of a growth economy. Robert Kennedy’s famous speech on how we count and what we produce for the wealth of a nation caricatured this reality many years ago. Yes, AI driven economics can be used and can contribute to the much needed market transparency, always blurred by social and capitalist […]

Find the full text here: https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/journals/journal/out-of-the-box-into-the-green-and-the-blue-a-plea-for-a-post-humanist-information-society-2021/

26/05/2026

📅 02 June 2026
🕟 16:30–18:00 (Paris Time)
💻 Online (Zoom)

The New Voices on Women in the History of Philosophy network, hosted by the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, connects early-career researchers working on women philosophers, scientists, and writers across traditions. This Spring 2026 edition is a joint initiative with University of Paderborn, Saint Joseph University of Beirut & University of Lorraine. Organized by Jil Muller, Marguerite El Asmar Bou Aoun, Daniel Fischer & Katia Raya.

Talks:
🔹 Kaimé Guerrero Valencia
Intervening Assemblages of Trans-formation/Action: Beatriz Nascimento (1942–1995)
Focus: the intellectual and political work of Beatriz Nascimento; Black historiography, aesthetics, and activism; quilombo as archive and horizon of freedom; language, film, and writing as practices of resistance and collective transformation. […]

🔹 Jake Nicholas Brooks
Autonomy Beyond Kant: Butler, Tronto, and Interdependence
Focus: intersectional critiques of Kantian autonomy; Butler’s analysis of dependency and exclusion in modern philosophy; Tronto’s ethics of care and interdependence; vulnerability, relationality, and responsibility as foundations for a more equal ethical and political life. […]

Zoom link and further information about the speakers and talks: https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/event/new-voices-talk-by-jake-nicholas-brooks-kaime-guerrero-valencia/

24/05/2026

The Saint Petersburg Manuscripts Project is an exemplary illustration of the potential for fruitful collaboration among researchers from diverse geographical backgrounds, with the objective of re-evaluating philosophical history and thereby enriching the study of women philosophers. The project is on the cusp of its second phase, which will see the English translations of the texts made available online, accompanied by a significant event scheduled for the summer months. The project is an international collaboration between the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists at Paderborn University and the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg. Its goal is to produce a digital, historical-critical edition of previously unpublished manuscripts by Émilie Du Châtelet, preserved in the Voltaire Collection of the National Library. […]

These documents offer insights into Du Châtelet’s intellectual development and her contributions to philosophy, science, and linguistics. The digitization and physical description of the manuscripts are managed by the National Library of Russia. The Center in Paderborn is responsible for transcription, annotations, the critical apparatus, and scholarly commentary — with commentary also translated into Russian. The digital edition of the St. Petersburg Manuscripts is freely accessible online, offering scholars and the public unprecedented access to Du Châtelet’s manuscripts. This project represents the first institutionalized international collaboration focused on Du Châtelet’s unpublished works. At the same time, it is the first historical-critical edition project at the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, as well as the first digital edition in the field of classical humanities at Paderborn University.

How to get access to the manuscripts: https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/journals/journal/the-st-petersburg-manuscripts-of-mme-du-chatelet/

Interested? You can also watch our video about the manuscripts or our Du Chatelet playlist on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/V8zLoA9uxBM?is=g1TftOAnJckfwC6S

22/05/2026

What does it mean to work creatively?

Drawing on the tradition of ancient philosophy, Hagengruber argues that creativity emerges precisely in moments of necessity, uncertainty, and crisis: the creative individual is someone who recognizes problems and works toward overcoming them.
For companies, institutions, and societies shaped by rapid technological change, creativity therefore becomes more than innovation alone, it becomes the capacity to understand and promote what is valuable.

You can watch the interview here: https://youtu.be/jopwfv-IVt8?is=WbGck66a3_b9a7QD

20/05/2026

Conference | The Origins of Totalitarianism Today: From the Crises of Democracy to New Beginnings

Invitation:
We warmly welcome you to the conference The Origins of Totalitarianism Today. From the Crises of Democracy to New Beginnings. This event commemorates the 75th Anniversary of publication of Hannah Arendt’s seminal study of totalitarianism with contributions of excellent international Arendt scholars. We want to discuss the relevance of The Origins for the current political landscape and its significance for understanding the crises of democracy, the resurgence of authoritarian politics, and the fragility of democratic institutions worldwide.

We are looking forward to seeing you there, Maria Robaszkiewicz and Ari-Elmeri Hyvönen (organizers)

Dates: May 28 - 30, 2026
Venue: Paderborn University, Germany
For more information, see the conference website: https://sites.google.com/view/conference-upb-toott/mainpage

For registration, please write to [email protected].

18/05/2026

Can Hannah Arendt still help us think about the future of work in the age of AI and automation?

In this interview of the Hannah Arendt Days in Barcelona, Uta Staiger speaks with Ruth Hagengruber about the relevance of Arendt’s ideas for contemporary debates on technology, labor, and human agency. The conversation was hosted by the Goethe-Institut Barcelona and the Ateneu Barcelonès.

You can watch the full interview on the YouTube channel of the Goethe-Institut Barcelona: https://youtu.be/EMWUt2yvcdM?is=e_XNbVi7RH8lhbny

18/05/2026

Have a look at the Preliminary Program of our Summer School: https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/libori-summer-school-2026/program-lss26/
Please stay tuned for more updates to come.

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16/05/2026

Talk: „Europa neu denken. Du Châtelet und Leibniz“ by Prof. Dr. Ruth Hagengruber
Date: 20.05.2026, 18:00

Abstract:
National disputes have shaped science throughout history, and Leibniz and Newton stand as exemplary figures in this regard. Émilie Du Châtelet, a philosopher and scientist exceptionally well connected across Europe, formulated in the spirit of the Enlightenment an idea of science that transcends the boundaries of national and epistemological territories. Forty years before Kant, she articulated her own “Copernican revolution,” thereby overcoming the limits of rationalist and empiricist epistemology. Her achievements are closely connected to her reception of Leibnizian philosophy.

Speaker:
Prof. Dr. Hagengruber is Director of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists at the Universität Paderborn. She is editor and co-editor of numerous publication series on women philosophers, including the international series Women in the History of Philosophy and Science (Springer), the Journal for the History of Women Philosophers(Brill), and the Women Philosophers World Heritage Collection (De Gruyter). Since 2025, she has served as President of the German Society for Philosophy.

To participate via Zoom, please register at [email protected]; the link will be sent on the day of the event.

Event organized by: Dr. Laura Herrera Castillo, Department of Philosophy / Leibniz Research Center Münster.
Further information: https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/event/europa-neu-denken-du-chatelet-und-leibniz-von-prof-dr-ruth-hagengruber-paderborn/