Ancient Women Philosophers: Recovered Ideas and New Perspectives

by Katharine R. O'Reilly (Editor), Caterina Pellò (Editor)

Overview

Despite the common misconception that ancient philosophy was the domain of male thinkers, sources confirm that ancient women engaged in philosophical activity. Bringing together a collection of essays on ancient women thinkers, with special focus on their ideas and contributions to the history of philosophy, this volume is about the earliest women philosophers, their breakthroughs, and the methods we can use to excavate them. The essays survey the methodological strategies we can use to approach the surviving evidence, retrieve the largely unresearched thought and the original ideas of ancient women philosophers, and carve out a space for them in the canon. The broad focus includes women thinkers in ancient Indian, Chinese, and Arabic philosophy as well as in the Greek and Roman philosophical traditions. The volume will be valuable for a wide range of researchers, teachers, and students of ancient philosophy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781009013895
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/01/2025
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.59(d)

About the Author

Katharine R. O'Reilly is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Toronto Metropolitan University. Her research areas include moral psychology in the Ancient Greek and Roman traditions, and ancient women philosophers (particularly in the Hellenistic schools).

Caterina Pellò is a Research Fellow at the University of Geneva (SNSF Ambizione). She has published Pythagorean Women (Cambridge 2022) in the series Cambridge Elements on Women in the History of Philosophy.

Table of Contents

Introduction: the value of women philosophers for the history of philosophy Caterina Pellò and Katharine R. O'Reilly; 1. Beyond gender: the voice of Diotima Frisbee C. C. Sheffield; 2. Sulabhā and Indian philosophy: rhetoric, gender, and philosophy in the Mahābhārata Brian Black; 3. Women's medical knowledge in antiquity: beyond midwifery Sophia M. Connell; 4. Ancient women epicureans and their anti-hedonist critics Kelly Arenson; 5. Arete of Cyrene and the role of women in philosophical lineage Katharine R. O'Reilly; 6. Women at the crossroads: life and death for the stoic wife Kate Meng Brassel; 7. Pythagorean women and the domestic as a philosophical topic Rosemary Twomey; 8. Perictione, mother of metaphysics: a new philosophical reading of on wisdom Giulia De Cesaris and Caterina Pellò; 9. Not veiled in silence: the case for macrina Anna B. Christensen; 10. Women philosophers and ideals of being a woman in Neoplatonic schools of late antiquity: the examples of Sosipatra of Ephesus and Hypatia of Alexandria Jana Schultz; 11. Reappraising Ban Zhao: the advent of Chinese women philosophers Ann A. Pang-White; 12. The reception of Plato on women: Proclus, Averroes, Marinella Peter Adamson; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

‘Any reinterpretation of the history of philosophy that includes the voices of women must begin with the ancient women thinkers. Pellò and O'Reilly succeed in creating a new framework beyond the Christian Western tradition. Part of this new perspective is indebted to the ideas of women thinkers from the Indian, Chinese, and Arab worlds. The book offers a fresh approach that renovates our understanding of ancient women thinkers and their reception, and also renews the concept of ancient philosophy.’ Ruth E. Hagengruber, University of Paderborn

‘This volume is a commendable achievement that will appeal to those with interests in ancient philosophy and its history, feminism, and those seeking to expand the philosophical canon to include marginalised groups and non-Western perspectives.’ Vicky Roupa, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

From the Publisher