The Oxford Handbook of American and British Women Philosophers in the Nineteenth Century

The Oxford Handbook of American and British Women Philosophers in the Nineteenth Century disrupts the widespread impression that there were no women philosophers in this period. Building on feminist histories of philosophy that cover other eras, this volume includes chapters on a wide range of women philosophers: those who wrote explicitly philosophical texts for academic audiences, others who philosophized in novels or pamphlets, and still others who philosophized through journalism or activist writings. Through fifty newly commissioned chapters, it examines the philosophical thought of individual women, including women of color, as well as chronicling women's contributions to philosophical movements such as Romanticism, Utilitarianism, Idealism, and Positivism. It also traces the philosophical arguments women used to contribute to topics in social philosophy such as socialism, feminism, abolitionism, and the philosophy of education. It outlines the history of writing and publishing in the nineteenth century, showing that circumstances were more hospitable to women authors during this time than is often assumed. It clarifies ways in which race and class affected women's philosophizing and analyzes the influence of women philosophers on their male contemporaries. By chronicling this wealth of women's philosophy, this handbook corrects the philosophical record and enriches our understanding of philosophy. If we assume there are no women philosophers in the nineteenth century, we will not look for them; if we do not look for them, they will remain obscure, limiting our understanding of what philosophy is and can be.

Lydia Moland is the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Philosophy at Colby College. She is the author of Lydia Maria Child: A Radical American Life, and of Hegel's Aesthetics: The Art of Idealism, as well as numerous articles on G.W.F Hegel, Friedrich Schiller, and German Idealism. She is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the ACLS, the DAAD, and the American Academy in Berlin. Her writing on Lydia Maria Child has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and the Boston Globe, among other venues. Alison Stone is Professor of Philosophy at Lancaster University. Her interests range across the history of philosophy, post-Kantian continental philosophy, feminist philosophy, and aesthetics. Her most recent books are Women on Philosophy of Art: Britain 1770-1900 (2024), Women Philosophers in Nineteenth-Century Britain (2023) and, co-edited with Charlotte Alderwick, Nineteenth-Century Women Philosophers in Britain and America (2023).