Take a closer look at the Elisabeth of Bohemia prize, which is awarded by the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists. The brochure contains information about the Prize, the former laureates, the donor Ulrike Detmers and information about Elisabeth of Bohemia.

Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize Brochure 2020

Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize Brochure 2018

The Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize donated by Ulrike Detmers, will be awarded to an outstanding contemporary philosopher in honor of the philosopher Elisabeth of Bohemia (1618-1680).

The Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize is an award that celebrates the long history of women in philosophy. The prize is awarded to an international philosopher for outstanding services to research on women in the history of philosophy. It is the first prize to acknowledge the resarch into the history of women philosophers and and annually awarded in cooporation with the donator by Ruth Edith Hagengruber, director of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists.

This years winner is Laura Aurora Benítez Grobet. She studied Philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where last March she was appointed Emerita Professor, the highest possible distinction at UNAM. To describe Sor Juana as a “philosopher”, as Professor Benítez did before anyone else, is not a minor achievement: although for centuries Sor Juana’s writings have sparked the admiration of many a reader, hardly anyone noticed or took seriously the strictly philosophical dimension of her ideas. Going against the grain, Laura Benítez reconstructed Sor Juana’s conception on the nature of knowledge and, within it, the role of understanding and sensitivity. Hence, where others had only seen wit, beauty and psychological depth, Laura Benítez identified a complex epistemological framework, in tune and on a par with the greatest thinkers of her time. Find out more about Laura Aurora Benítez Grobet here.

Elisabeth of Bohemia (1618-1680) was the eldest daughter of Prince Friedrich V. of the Palatinate and his wife Elisabeth Stuart, a granddaughter of Maria Stuart. In her time Elisabeth of Bohemia was also a well-known European intellectual and one of the most famous correspondents of Descartes.

The winner, Laura Aurora Benítez Grobet, will be honoured and festively introduced by three laudatory speeches. The speakers are Alejandra Velázquez, Teresa Rodríguez and Aurelia Valero Pie. A congratulation speech will be held by Dr. Juan Antonio Cruz Parcero, Director of the Institute of Philosophy at UNAM.

The Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize Ceremony will be held via ZOOM on Wednesday, August 16, 2023 at 7 PM (UTC+2/ German Time), which is 11 AM (UTC-6/Mexican Time). The Ceremony can be viewed via the following link:

https://uni-paderborn-de.zoom.us/j/92725557688?pwd=aU9pb0NEYnRuc2lTamwwRUtuRklHUT09

Meeting-ID: 927 2555 7688
Kenncode: 035156

Organizer: Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists

Link to the Ceremony video: https://youtu.be/TRmAnNw3pA4?si=xUF5mWKV9beszT1Y

On September 28^th, 2022, the Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize was awarded to an outstanding contemporary philosopher in honor of Elisabeth of Bohemia (1618-1680). Elisabeth of Bohemia was the eldest daughter of Prince Friedrich V. of the Palatinate and his wife Elisabeth Stuart, a granddaughter of Maria Stuart. In her time Elisabeth of Bohemia was also a well-known European intellectual and one of the most famous correspondents of Descartes.

The Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize honors scholars whose work best acknowledges the contributions of women to the history of philosophy. The prize is awarded by the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and by its director, Prof. Ruth Hagengruber, at Paderborn University. The award is donated by Prof. Ulrike Detmers, spokeswoman of the Mestemacher Group and professor at Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences.

This year the prize went to Professor Sarah Hutton, from the University of York. She is well known to all of us, especially here in Paderborn, as she has often visited us for Conferences and talks, including in 2014 as a Visiting Professor at the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists.

Her research focuses on Renaissance and Seventeenth-century literature and intellectual history, including the history of science and history of philosophy. She is also a specialist in the History of Women Philosophers and one of the leading international experts on early modern women’s writing. She has published, among other book, a monograph on Anne Conway: Anne Conway. A Woman Philosopher, Cambridge University Press, 2004; and a revised edition of The Conway Letters, originally edited by Marjorie Nicolson. She also published many articles on Anne Conway, Margaret Cavendish, Mary Astell and Émilie du Châtelet.

Organizer: Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists

Award Committee 2022:

• Donor: Ulrike Detmers
• Ruth Hagengruber, Director of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, Germany
• Mary Ellen Waithe, Cleveland State University, USA
• Gianni Paganini, Accademico dei Lincei, Italy
• Micheal Beaney, Editor British Journal for the History of Philosophy, GB

Link to the Ceremony video: https://youtu.be/uid2NZXfVxo?si=ajgN4LPk45u5Dhsa

In 2021, the Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize was awarded on July 18, 2021 at the XXVIII. World Congress of the International Association of Women Philosophers (IAPh). Due to the delay caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the award committee has decided that this year’s prize should be divided in two parts. To match the theme “Defining the Future, Rethinking the Past” with which the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists has shaped the conference:

In a symbolical act that goes back in time, the foremothers of the International Association of Women Philosophers (IAPH), first founded in 1976 , were acknowledged. The occasion was commemorated with a keynote on the early days of the IAPh by Herta Nagl-Dozekal and a workshop by Gabriele Gutzmann, one of the founding members of the IAPh.

The financial acknowledgement goes to the future and is awarded to Mitieli Seixas da Silva, Professor of Philosophy at the Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil, and member of the research group “Rede Brasileira de Mulheres Filósofas” on the history of women philosophers. The financial award of the Elisabeth of Bohemia prize is dedicated to acknowledge Professor da Silva’s endeavor to consolidate research on the history of women philosophers in Brazil.

Mitieli Seixas da Silva is a promising junior researcher with outstanding experience and who, in the opinion of the committee, deserves this award. She has a PhD in Philosophy from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul with a doctoral dissertation on Kant’s theoretical philosophy, advised by Professor Silvia Altmann (UFRGS) and partially by Professor Hannah Ginsbourg (University of California -Berkeley). She also received a scholarship for the collaborative project Erasmus Master Mundus–Europhilosophie, during which she researched at the Université Catholique de Louvain, the Bergische Universität Wuppertal and at the Université du Luxembourg.

Next to interests in Modern Philosophy and didactics, Mitieli Seixas da Silva is dedicated to revisiting the canon of modern history of philosophy through the work of modern women philosophers and has rendered outstanding services, especially with her project on “Émilie du Châtelet between Experience and Reason in the 18th Century: Studies in the Formation of the Philosophical Canon, Theories of Knowledge, and the History of Women Philosophers”.

Award Committee 2021:

Donor: Ulrike Detmers (Bielefeld University)

• Ruth Hagengruber, Director of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, Paderborn University, Germany
• Mary Ellen Waithe, Cleveland State University, USA
• Gianenrico Paganini, Piemont University, Italy

Prof. Sarah Hutton (University of York) holding the honorary speech Photo: Ricarda Michels, Paderborn University

This year’s laureate of the Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize, donated by Ulrike Detmers, is Prof. em. Mary Ellen Waithe (Cleveland State University, Ohio). She was awarded with the prize during the Closing Ceremony of the Libori Summer School 2019.

Prof. em. Mary Ellen Waithe (Cleveland State University)

Mary Ellen Waithe is the author of the ground-breaking book series “A History of Women Philosophers”, published from 1987 to 1995, from ancient to contemporary women philosophers. With this work, she was the first to publish a book dedicated solely to women philosophers and a pioneer in the field of study on women philosophers. Her dedication motivated many others to join her cause and the project provided a much-needed impulse to further the recognition of women philosophers. The series presents an unparalleled contribution to the research on women in the history of philosophy and is extremely relevant to this day. The Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, under the direction of Prof. Ruth Hagengruber, is proud to honor such an important effort to restore women’s contributions to the history of philosophy.

The Call for Papers for the Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize 2019 can be found here.

Award Committee 2019:

Donor: Ulrike Detmers (Bielefeld University)

• Ruth Hagengruber (Paderborn University)
• Sarah Hutton (University of York)
• Sabrina Ebbersmeyer (University of Copenhagen)
• Herta Nagl-Docekal (University of Vienna)

2018, prize ceremony in Herford’s town hall.

The winner, Professor Lisa Shapiro (Simon Frazer University, Canada), was announced on May 19, 2018, during the conference ‘Elisabeth of Bohemia (1618-1680): Life and Legacy’ celebrating the fourth centenary of her birth.  The conference was sponsored by the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung with the support of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Philosophie, the DFG Arbeitsgruppe, ‘Frauen in der Geschichte der Philosophie’ and the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, Paderborn University.

“I am very honored to receive the first Ulrike Detmers Elisabeth of Bohemia and Herford Prize, recognizing my efforts in making accessible and in understanding the philosophical views of Princess Elisabeth.

Professor Lisa Shapiro (Simon Frazer University, Canada) accepting the prize.

The Ulrike Detmers Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize demonstrates a similar vision for recognizing the work being done to raise awareness about women in the history of philosophy and thereby to revitalize the discipline. We are at an important moment right now, with work being done by so many people, including the important work of Prof. Dr. Ruth Hagengruber and the Centre for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists at Paderborn University, to rehabilitate the work of women philosophers throughout our history.

Thank you, Professor Detmers, for creating this award and to the awards committee for this great honour.”

– Lisa Shapiro

Award Committee 2018:

Donor: Ulrike Detmers (Bielefeld University)

• Prof. Dr. Ruth Hagengruber, Director of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, Paderborn University, Germany
• Prof. Dr. Sarah Hutton, Honorary Visiting Professor, University of York, UK
• Prof. Dr. Dominik Perler, Professor of Philosophy, Humboldt-University, Berlin, Germany
• Prof. Dr. Ulrike Detmers, Donor, Gütersloh, Germany

Prof. Dr. Sarah Hutton (University of York), member of the award committee, interviews Prof. Dr. Lisa Shapiro (Simon Frazer University Canada), the winner of the first Elisabeth of Bohemia and Herford Prize 2018.