A History of Women Philosophers Vol. IV
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A HISTORY OF WOMEN PHILOSOPHERS A History of Women Philosophers 1. Ancient Women Philosophers, 600 B.C.-500 A.D. 2. Medieval, Renaissance and Enlightenment Women Philosophers, 500-1600 3. Modern Women Philosophers, 1600-1900 4. Contemporary Women Philosophers, 1900-today PROFESSOR C. J. DE VOGEL A History of Women Philosophers Volume 4 Contemporary Women Philosophers 1900-today Edited by MARY ELLEN WAITHE Cleveland State University, Cleveland, U.S.A. Springer-Science+Business Media, B. V. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Contemporary women philosophers : 1900-today / edited by Mary Ellen Waithe. p. cm. -- (A History of women philosophers ; v. 4.) Includes bibliographical references (p. xxx-xxx) and index. ISBN 978-0-7923-2808-7 ISBN 978-94-011-1114-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-1114-0 1. Women philosophers. 2. Philosophy. Modern--20th century. r. Waithe. Mary Ellen. II. Series. Bl05.W6C66 1994 190' .82--dc20 94-9712 ISBN 978-0-7923-2808-7 printed an acid-free paper AII Rights Reserved © 1995 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1995 Softcover reprint ofthe hardcover lst edition 1995 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner. Contents Acknowledgements xv Introduction to Volume 4, by Mary Ellen Waithe xix 1. Victoria, Lady Welby (1837-1912), by William Andrew 1 Myers I. Introduction 1 II. Biography 1 III. Philosophy 5 1. Beginnings of a Philosophy of Interpretation 5 2. The Science of Signifies 13 IV. Other Intellectual Interests 17 V. Welby's Influence and the Development of Significs 20 VI. Conclusion 21 2. E. E. Constance Jones (1848-1922), by Mary Ellen Waithe 25 and Samantha Cicero I. Biography 25 II. Works 28 1. Ethics 28 (a) A Primer of Ethics 28 (b) Other Ethical Writings 29 2. Analytic Philosophy 31 (a) Categorical Propositions 31 (b) Identity of Denotation in Diversity of Intension 31 (c) Identity in Diversity as an Axiom of Logic 31 III. The Originality of Jones' Thought 36 1. Does Jones Anticipate Frege? 36 2. Does Jones Anticipate Russell? 37 ix x Contents 3. Could Russell Not Have Read Frege? 43 4. Might Frege Have Relied on Jones? 45 IV. Conclusion 46 3. Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935), by Julien S. 51 Murphy I. Biography 51 II. Gilman's Philosophical Work 55 1. Androcentric Philosophy 56 2. Androcentric Religion 57 3. Philosophy of Social Evolution 58 4. Gilman's Eugenics 63 5. Androcentric Ethics 64 6. Suicide and Euthanasia 65 4. Lou Salome (1861-1937), by Sandra A. Wawrytko 69 I. Biography 69 II. Philosophy 71 1. Philosophy of Religion: The Religious Experience 72 2. The Philosophy of Women: The Experiences of Love 73 and Sexuality 3. Psychoanalytical Theorizing and Influence 75 4. Later Writings 76 III. Influences 77 IV. Conclusions 79 5. Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930), by Beatrice H. Zedler 103 I. Biography 103 II. Psychology 104 1. Education, Contributions and Publications in the Field 104 of Psychology 2. What Psychology Is and Is Not 106 3. The Self and Its Relation to Soul and to Body 107 4. The Distinction and Relation between Psychology and 110 Philosophy III. Philosophy 111 1. Education, Contributions, and Publications in Phi- 111 losophy 2. Main Philosophical Ideas 112 3. Ethics and Other Philosophical Areas 117 IV. Conclusion 119 Contents xi 6. L. Susan Stebbing (1885-1943), by Morgan Grayce 125 Willow I. Biography 125 II. Philosophy 128 1. Pragmatism and French Voluntarism 128 2. A Modern Introduction to Logic 131 3. Logic in Practice 136 4. Thinking to Some Purpose 137 5. A Modern Elementary Logic 138 6. Philosophy and the Physicists 139 7. Ideas and Illusions 148 7. Edith Stein (1891-1942), by Mary Catherine Baseheart, 157 S. CN. and Linda Lopez McAlister with Waltraut Stein I. Biography 157 II. Philosophy 162 1. Personhood 164 (a) Psycho Physical Unity 164 (b) Knowledge of Other Persons 167 (c) Consciousness and Spirituality 170 (d) Woman 172 (e) Individual and Community 173 2. Theology 174 (a) Thomasism and Phenomenology 174 (b) Finite and Eternal Being 176 3. Metaphysics 177 (a) Being 177 (b) Act and Potency 178 (c) Eternal Being 180 (d) Essence and Existence 182 III. Conclusion 184 8. Gerda Walther (1897-1977), by Linda Lopez McAlister 189 I. Biography 189 II. Philosophy 195 1. Phenomenology 195 2. Mysticism 198 3. Parapsychology, Mysticism and Phenomenology 202 III. Conclusions 205 xii Contents 9. Ayn Rand (1905-1982), by Jenny A. Heyl 207 I. Biography 208 II. Literary Works 213 1. The Early Ayn Rand (1984) 213 2. Night of January 16th (originally titled Penthouse 214 Legend) (1936) III. Objectivist Philosophy 214 1. For the New Intellectual: The Philosophy ofAyn Rand 215 (1961) 2. We the Living (1936) 216 3. Anthem (1938) 216 4. The Fountainhead (1943) 217 5. Atlas Shrugged (1957) 218 6. The Newsletters (January 1962 - February 1976) 218 7. The Virtue of Selfishness (1964) 219 8. Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (1966) 220 9. Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology (1967) 220 10. The Romantic Manifesto (1969) 221 11. The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution (1971) 221 12. Philosophy: Who Needs It? (1982) 221 13. The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought 222 (1988) IV. Conclusion 222 10. Cornelia Johanna de Vogel (1905-1986), by Th. G. 225 Sinnige I. Background 225 II. Biography 226 III. Ancient Philosophy 228 IV. Christian Philosophy 234 V. On Theological Orthodoxy and Women 237 VI. Conclusions 240 11. Hannah Arendt (1906-1975), by Mary Ellen Waithe 243 I. Biography 243 II. Works 244 1. On Revolution 245 2. The Life of the Mind 248 III. Conclusions 257 Contents xiii 12. Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986), by JeJfner Allen and Jo- 261 Ann Pilardi I. Biography 261 II. Works 261 III. Philosophy of the Self 268 1. Background 268 2. Self and Other in Beauvoir's Early Essays 270 3. Self and Other in The Second Sex 274 IV. Conclusion 282 13. Simonel Weil (1909-1943), by Kate Lindemann 287 I. Biography 287 II. Philosophical Work 290 1. Forms 290 2. Limit, Space, Time, Attention 292 3. Lived Experience of Oppressed Human Beings 294 III. Conclusions 296 14. Twentieth Century Women Philosophers, by Mary Ellen 299 Waithe 1. Sophie Willock Bryant: 1850-1922 300 2. Julia Henrietta Gulliver: 1856-1940 305 3. Helen Dendy Bosanquet: 1860-1925 306 4. Jane Addams: 1860-1935 311 5. Elizabeth S. Haldane: 1862-1937 314 6. May Sinclair: 1863-1946 315 7. Ellen Bliss Talbot: 1867-1968 320 8. Emma Goldman: 1869-1940 323 9. A. M. (Maud?) Bodkin: b. 1875 325 10. Evelyn Underhill: 1875-1941 327 11. Helen Knight: fl. 1877 330 12. Grace Mead Andrus De Laguna: 1878-1978 331 13. Nima Hirschensohn Alderblum: c. 1882-1974 332 14. Beatrice Edgell: fl. 1875 333 15. F. Rosamond Shields: fl. 1913 338 16. Katherine Everett Gilbert: 1886-1952 339 17. Una Mirrieles Bernard Sait: 1886-? 342 18. Helen Huss Parkhurst: 1887-1959 346 19. Sister Mary Patricia Garvey: 1888-1952 348 xiv Contents 20. Karin Costelloe Stephen: 1889-1953 349 21. Phyllis Ackerman: fl. 1893 351 22. Dorothy Wrinch Nicholson: 1894-1976 352 23. Marjorie Silliman Harris: fl. 1913 355 24. E. M. Whetnall: fl. 1900 355 25. Ruth Lydia Saw: 1901-1983? 357 26. Ivy MacKenzie: fl. 1902 363 27. Margaret Masterman Braithwaite: fl. 1905 363 28. Margaret MacDonald: fl. 1907-1956 364 29. Helen M. Smith: fl. 1907 366 Appendix 381 Bibliography 383 Index 461 Acknowledgements So many have contributed so much to this volume. In addition to the very capable contributions made by the named authors, I wish to thank several people who have helped with the research, writing, and editing of this volume. Professor Alice Ambrose was kind enough to take my telephone call during Christmas holiday of 1991. She allowed me to read to her the contents of an entire file drawer containing the names of those women philosophers who are discussed in the final chapter, or who are mentioned in the Appendix. She graciously filled in details she remembered about the lives and works of many of those women. Often, when my research staff could find no published information about a subject's life, educa tion, professional experience, or even a date of death, Professor Ambrose was able to provide me with personal remembrances. I have indicated in the text and notes to Chapter 14, information that Professor Ambrose provided. Speaking with her gave me an odd sensation of work com pleted and of times changed. After our conversation ended, I recollected the feeling that had come over me that day, more than a decade ago, when I "found" the first work I located by an ancient woman philosopher. I remember standing in the library stacks, poring through page after page of Stobaeus, looking for the fragment by Aesara of Lucania On Human Nature which from Wolff's Latin translation, was clearly a work of phi losophy. I did not read Greek (and still don't), but had transliterated Wolff's Greek for Aesara of Lucania. And suddenly, there it was, staring back at me from the pages of Stobaeus. Tears came to my eyes. And now, a decade later, I was actually speaking to someone who personally had known a woman philosopher about whom I was writing. The millennia bridged from the time of Aesara to the time about which I spoke with Alice Ambrose contained our entire history, the history of women philosophers.