Women Philosophers Volume II: Entering Academia in Nineteenth-Century America
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Overview
Tackling the intellectual histories of the first twenty women to earn a PhD in philosophy in the United States, this book traces their career development and influence on American intellectual life. The case studies include Eliza Ritchie, Marietta Kies, Julia Gulliver, Anna Alice Cutler, Eliza Sunderland, and many more. Author Dorothy Rogers looks at the factors that led these women to pursue careers in academic philosophy, examines the ideas they developed, and evaluates the impact they had on the academic and social worlds they inhabited.
Many of these women were active in professional academic circles, published in academic journals, and contributed to important philosophical discussions of the day: the question of free will, the nature of God in relation to self, and how to establish a just society. The most successful women earned their degrees at women-friendly institutions, yet a handful of them achieved professional distinction at institutions that refused to recognize their achievements at the time; John Hopkins and Harvard are notable examples.
The women who did not develop careers in academic philosophy often moved to careers in social welfare or education. Thus, whilst looking at the academic success of some, this book also examines the policies and practices that made it difficult or impossible for others to succeed.
A discussion of the lives and work of the first women to earn PhDs in philosophy in the United States and teach in colleges and universities.
Provides insight into the development of academic philosophy in America and women's contributions to it
Outlines the little-known contributions of women to American philosophical and social thought outside academia - women's rights, peace, and social welfare
Exposes and challenges the “masculinist” American philosophy of the 19th and 20th centuries
1. Introduction: Women and Early Academic Philosophy in America
2. Institutional Strength and Support: Women at Cornell
[May Preston Slossen, Eliza Ritchie, Grace Neal Dolson, Ethel Gordon Muir, Ellen Bliss Talbot, Vida Frank Moore]
3. A Window of Opportunity: Women at Michigan
[Marietta Kies, Caroline Miles Hill, Eliza Sunderland]
4. Beyond Philosophy: Women at Chicago
[Ella Flagg Young, Clara Millerd, Anna Louise Strong, Matilda Castro, Rachel Caroline Eaton, Georgiana Simpson]
5. Isolated in the Ivy League, Prestige without Support: Women at Harvard and Yale
[Mary Whiton Calkins, Ethel Puffer Howes, Eva B. Dykes; Anna Alice Cutler, Blanche Zehring, Clara Hitchcock]
6. Overcoming the Odds: Women on Their Own at Johns Hopkins, Smith, Bern, and the Sorbonne
[Christine Ladd-Franklin, Julia Gulliver, Emma Rauschenbusch, Anna Julia Cooper]
7. Conclusion
Dorothy Rogers takes us on an unusual journey that starts in the 19th century. She sheds light on twenty-four women who completed their doctorates in philosophy at famous universities in America. We follow their tracks, at universities, colleges and professional networks. We learn about the ups and downs of the careers of famous scholars like Marietta Kies and Christine Ladd Franklin and how Mary Whiton Calkins became the first president of the APA. This is an essential volume for retracing the histories of women philosophers in the US.
This book provides an essential correction to the history of American philosophy by recovering the lives and philosophical contributions of American women who, against all odds, earned Ph.D.s in philosophy prior to 1920. It repairs the occlusion of women in philosophy by making these women and their ideas visible.
This work from Rogers provides an important and insightful addition to the growing body of literature widening the traditional philosophical canon and taking women in history from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds seriously as philosophers. As well as providing detailed accounts of various women philosophers in nineteenth century America, Rogers' work constitutes a compelling argument for re-evaluating how we think about what a philosopher looks like and does; and that by widening our view of philosophy and philosophers we thereby open up the possibility of engaging with important and diverse thinkers hitherto overlooked.
- Title: Women Philosophers Volume II: Entering Academia in Nineteenth-Century America
- Author: Dorothy G. Rogers
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
- Print Publication Date: 2021
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Pages: 376
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781350070899, 9781350213975, 1350213977, 1350070890
- Resource ID: LLS:9781350070899
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-04-22T10:28:45Z
Dorothy Rogers is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Montclair State University, USA. She is a member of MSU's Women's & Gender Studies Advisory Board and MSU's President's Commission on Affirmative Action. She also participates in the GLBTQ support program, Safe Space.