Weekly we want to highlight the writers to the Brill Journal on the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, which is founded by Ruth Hagengruber & Mary Ellen Waithe. This week we want to present Julie Van Camp who wrote the article Privacy, Feminism, and Moral Responsibility in the Work of Elizabeth Lane Beardsley.

Abstract: I consider why women philosophers, once recognized, too often seem to drop from the intellectual radar screen or, at least, to drop mainly to the land of footnotes and bibliographies. I consider one distinguished moral philosopher, Elizabeth Lane Beardsley, both to highlight her philosophical contributions and as a case study that suggests more widespread problems in recognizing the work of female philosophers and ensuring their rightful place in our professional dialogue. I consider sociological and professional factors which might partially explain why work by women philosophers has not always received the attention in the professional dialogue it seems to deserve. I conclude with some modest suggestions about the efforts that we can make to address these problems, including the organization of readings for our own courses, the sources consulted for our own research and writing, and the preservation of records of meetings and other public gatherings that recognize women philosophers.

Julie van Camp teaches at the Department of Philosophy, California State University Long Beach. Her primary research interests are philosophical problems presented by art law, especially freedom of expression for artists and intellectual property. She also works on philosophical problems of dance. She has received grants to support her work from the American Bar Association, Commission on College and University Legal Studies; the National Endowment for the Humanities; and the Non-Profit Sector Research Fund of the Aspen Institute.