The Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists (HWPS) is an interdisciplinary research center at the

University of Paderborn Paderborn University () is a public research university in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in 1972 and 20,308 students were enrolled at the university in the winter semester 2016/2017 in 62 different degree programmes. ...

, focused on the work of historical women philosophers and scientists. The Center is responsible for the publication of the ''Journal of the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists''. The Center also awards the annual

Elizabeth of Bohemia Elizabeth Stuart (19 August 1596 – 13 February 1662) was Electress of the Palatinate and briefly Queen of Bohemia as the wife of Frederick V of the Palatinate. The couple's selection for the crown by the nobles of Bohemia was part of the po ...

prize, Europe's first prize honoring women philosophers. The Center received a major grant from the

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

foundation for the study of women philosophers in Ukraine, and also maintains a research network and talk series for researchers working on the history of women philosophers and scientists.

Encyclopedia of Concise Concepts by Women Philosophers

The Encyclopedia of Concise Concepts by Women Philosophers (ECC) is an

online encyclopedia An online encyclopedia, also called an Internet encyclopedia, is a digital encyclopedia accessible through the Internet. Some examples include pre-World Wide Web services that offered the '' Academic American Encyclopedia'' beginning in 1980, Enc ...

that exclusively contains entries on concepts from the work of

female philosophers Women have made significant contributions to philosophy throughout the history of the discipline. Ancient examples of female philosophers include Maitreyi (1000 BCE), Gargi Vachaknavi (700 BCE), Hipparchia of Maroneia (active ) and Arete of C ...

. The ECC is an open access database developed by the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists that went online on June 15, 2018. Each entry is written by an internationally recognized researcher and peer-reviewed before publication. It will contain a brief explanation of a philosophical concept both either developed or significantly advanced by a woman philosopher as well as a list of primary and secondary sources for further research. Early articles focused on thinkers such as

Diotima of Mantinea Diotima of Mantinea (; ; ) is the name or pseudonym of an ancient Greek character in Plato's dialogue ''Symposium'', possibly an actual historical figure, indicated as having lived circa 440 B.C. Her ideas and doctrine of ''Eros'' as reported ...

Mercy Otis Warren Mercy Otis Warren (September 25, 1728 – October 19, 1814) was an American activist poet, playwright, and pamphleteer during the American Revolution. During the years before the Revolution, she had published poems and plays that attacked royal ...

and

Jane Addams Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860May 21, 1935) was an American Settlement movement, settlement activist, Social reform, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was a leader in the history of s ...

. The

encyclopedia An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...

is part of the digital collection of

Paderborn University Paderborn University () is a public research university in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in 1972 and 20,308 students were enrolled at the university in the winter semester 2016/2017 in 62 different degree programmes. ...

and articles are available as official academic sources. It was created by the German philosopher

Ruth Hagengruber Ruth Hagengruber is a German philosopher, currently professor and head of philosophy at the University of Paderborn. She specialises in the history of women philosophers as well as philosophy of economics and computer science and is a specialist ...

and Mary Ellen Waithe of

Cleveland State University Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in oper ...

. The ECC received the DARIAH-DE DH-Award 2018, (“Tools and Projects” section), for exceptional work in digital humanities.

Émilie Du Châtelet: Research and Manuscript Editions

The Center has a long-standing focus on the work of the eighteenth-century philosopher and physicist,

Émilie du Châtelet Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet (; 17 December 1706 – 10 September 1749) was a French mathematician and physicist. Her most recognized achievement is her philosophical magnum opus, ''Institutions de Physique'' ...

. For example, a major international conference in Potsdam in 2006 resulted in an edited volume linking Du Châtelet to Leibniz and Newton. Since 2020, the Center has published a freely available historical-critical online edition of previously unedited manuscripts by Du Châtelet, stored at the National Library in St. Petersburg, Russia. This is the first critical edition, as well as the first online edition, of manuscripts by Du Châtelet. The edition is funded by the

German Research Foundation The German Research Foundation ( ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2019, the DFG had a funding bud ...

(Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) and is a collaboration with the

National Library of Russia The National Library of Russia (NLR, , ''РНБ''), located in Saint Petersburg, is the first, and one of three national public libraries in Russia. The NLR is currently ranked among the world's major libraries. It has the second biggest libr ...

. Since 2021, the Center has also published a freely available online historical-critical edition of a different set of manuscripts by Du Châtelet, stored at the

Bibliothèque Nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

, Paris. These manuscripts include the early drafts of her main philosophical work, the ''Institutions de physique''.

Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize

The Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize was named in honor of Elisabeth of Bohemia (1618–1680). The award was established to acknowledge research on women in the history of philosophy. The prize is endowed with 3500 Euros and is donated by Ulrike Detmers. Awardees include Laura Aurora Benítez Grobet (2023), Sarah Hutton (2022), Mitieli Seixas da Silva (2021), Mary Ellen Waithe (2019) and Lisa Shapiro (2018).

Public Teaching

From 2017 to 2019, the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists hosted the Libori Summer School in Paderborn, Germany. The conferences were open to the public and featured scholars from all over the world giving talks and master classes. The Center HWPS also hosts online teaching seminars. For their offering of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), the Center was awarded the Fellowship für Innovations in Digital University Teaching.

References

External links

* {{official, https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/ Paderborn University Women and philosophy Women scientists Philosophy organizations