Abstract
In the middle of the eighteenth century, the French philosopher Émilie Du Châtelet became the most famous intellectual woman in the Enlightenment. When she published her magnum opus in 1740, the ideas it presented about scientific knowledge and philosophy spread throughout Europe. Every major figure of the period, from Diderot and Voltaire to Kant and even Frederick the Great, discussed them. At this same historical moment, D’Alembert presented the first formulation of the modern philosophy canon in his famous Preliminary Discourse. Du Châtelet nearly became the only woman to join that canon. But the same men in her milieu who discussed and promoted her ideas excluded her from it. In a fascinating twist, Du Châtelet foresaw this paradoxical predicament and gave us the philosophical tools to overcome it.
Speaker
Andrew Janiak is a Professor of Philosphy and Bass Fellow at Duke University's Trinity College of Arts & Science.
