The International Commission on Science and Literature DHST/IUHPST, the Commission on Women and Gender Studies DHST/IUHPST, the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, Paderborn University, the School of Humanities of the Hellenic Open University, the Institute of Historical Research/National Hellenic Research Foundation, and the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Athens organize a two-days’ workshop to study Women in the History of Science, Philosophy and Literature. The CoSciLit workshop is already an established part of the very prestigious “Hermoupolis Seminars” which have been organized for more than 30 years every July on Syros Island.

This workshop aims to rediscover and to re-evaluate the impact and role of women in the history of science, philosophy, and literature. In recent years there has been growing interest in the history of women’s contributions to science, philosophy, and literature which dates back to the very beginnings of these disciplines. Theano, Hypatia, Du Châtelet, Lovelace are only a small selection of prominent women philosophers and scientists throughout history. The conference offers an open forum for all scholars interested in this growing research field, thus bringing into the dialogue multiple perspectives and different disciplines in order to build communication and cooperation bridges between science, philosophy, and literature. We especially welcome contributions placing women at the forefront and confirming their role in the production of modern scientific, technical knowledge and its philosophical foundation.

Speakers and topics:

• Chelsea Harry (Southern Connecticut State University, USA) – Sappho of Lesbos as a Philosopher of Time?
• Effie Lampropoulou (Hellenic Open University, Greece) – Women and Science in Antiquity. An Underestimated Driving Force
• Maya Roman (Tel Aviv University, Israel) – Alfred and Evelyn: A Comparison of Alfred N. Whitehead’s and Evelyn Fox Keller’s Philosophy of the Organism
• Anna Smywińska-Pohl (Jagellonian University, Poland) – Jewish Women Philosophers at the Jagiellonian University in the Mid War Time
• Ivana Buljan (University of Zagreb, Croatia) – From Nature to Virtue: Female Identity in Han Chinese Thought
• Alina Bako (Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania) – The Feminine Romanian Novel and the Unfaithful Memory
• Diana Gianola (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart – Milan, Italy) – The Philosophy of Women on Democracy and Forgiveness: a Comparison Between Arendt and Nussbaum
• Nechama Haddad (Tel Aviv University, Israel) – The Making of Woman
• Stylianos Virvidakis (National University of Athens, Greece) – Iris Murdoch and Contemporary Moral Philosophy
• Andrew Brown/Ulla Kölving (Centre Int. d’étude XVIIIe siècle, Ferney, France) – Du Châtelet’s Impact: Her Correspondence
• Ruth Hagengruber (Paderborn University, Germany) – Rewriting the History of Philosophy:  Du Châtelet’s Philosophical Impact
• Andrea Reichenberger (Paderborn University, Germany) – Du Châtelet on Hypotheses
• Ana Rodrigues (Paderborn University, Germany) – Du Châtelet’s Modern Turn in Eudemonistic Ethics
• Panagiotis Lazos (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece) – Emilie Du Châtelet and Jean Antoine Nollet. Scientific Instruments and the Interaction Between Two Significant Scholars of the 18thCentury
• Qiu Lin (Duke University, USA) – Émilie Du Châtelet’s Views on Space
• Natalia-Rozalia Avlona (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece) – From the Virtual Communities of Digital Commons to the Physical Practices of Makerspaces: An Intersectional Feminist Study
• Elena Zaitseva (Moscow State University, Russia) – First Russian Women Chemists: Joining the Professional Community
• Georgia Manoli (Panteion University, Greece) – The feminist critique on the rhetorics of Natural Sciences
• Themis Kanetaki (Independent Scholar) – “Get dressed my lady but do it upright”. The History of the Bra – A Female Technology in Greece, 1960-1980
• Elpida Printezi-Kampeli (Independent Scholar) – Ursulines Sisters: First Girls’ Teachers in Syros, in the Middle of the 18th Century
• Aleksandar Petrovic/Aleksandra Stevanovic (University of Belgrade, Serbia) – Olgivana Lloyd Wright and Eastern Religious Literature Impact on Modern Architecture
• Tuvaal Klein (Tel Aviv University, Israel) – Marie Curie’s Public Persona – A Critical Examination
• Dimitris Kilakos (Sofia University, Bulgaria) – S.A. Yanovskaya: The Marxist Pioneer of Mathematical Logic in Soviet Union
• Kosana Jovanovic, Iris Vidmar (University of Rijeka, Croatia) – Echoes of Christine de Pizan in Contemporary Feminist Philosophy
• Ivory Day (University Paris 1, Pantheon Sorbonne, France) – Stebbing and Russell on Bergson: Early Analytics on Continental Thought.
• George N. Vlahakis (Hellenic Open University, Greece) – A Broken Cup of Tea and the First Female Philosopher in 20thCentury Greece
• Argyro Loukaki (Hellenic Open University, Greece) – Sappho’s Poetics and the Science of Her Time
• Natalia Fernández Díaz-Cabal (Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain) – The Forgotten Names in the Natural History: Maria Sibylla Merian
• Evangelia Chordaki (Hellenic Open University, Greece) and Lazopoulou Antigoni (University of Athens, Greece) – Reclaiming Our Health: Feminist Movements as a Form of Women’s Engagement with Science.
• Anna Wilks (Acadia University, Canada) – Have Functions Really Disappeared from Scientific Inquiry?
• Maria Terdimou (Independent Scholar) – Women in Sciences after the Establishment of the Greek University and the First Decades of the 20th Century

Call for Paper:

We invite paper proposals including a title, an abstract of 300 words, name, and affiliation of the author, as well as contact information. The presentation time is 30 minutes with additional 10 minutes for discussion. The conference language is English.

Please submit your proposal via email (ruth.hagengruber@upb.de; gvlahakis@yahoo.com) by March 31, 2018. Response of acceptance will be given at the latest by April 30, 2018.

Location:

The venue of the workshop will be the “Historical Archives of the State” in the Town Hall of Hermoupolis. Hermoupolis was once the capital of Greece and a city of great cultural, scientific, and industrial heritage. Syros Island is very close to Piraeus by boat and an ideal place for a high quality, inexpensive summer visit.

For participants giving a paper there will be a modest fee of 50 Euros and for those who will attend without a paper a fee of 40 Euros to cover administrative expenses. There will be some hotels with reduced prices on offer for the participants but there are plenty of places, in Hermoupolis or close by, at very convenient prices.

Participants are asked to make their own arrangements concerning their arrival and accommodation, but the conference organizers will be happy to give any necessary assistance.

Coffee and refreshments will be offered.

Organization:

George N. Vlahakis, Commission on Science and Literature DHST/IUHPST and Hellenic Open University, Greece

Manolis Patiniotis, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Athens, Greece

Efthymios Nicolaidis, Institute for Historical Research / National Hellenic Research Foundation, Greece

Maria Rentetzi, Commission on Women and Gender Studies DHST/IUPST, National Technical University of Athens, Greece

Ruth Hagengruber, Paderborn University, Director of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, Germany

Andrea Reichenberger, Paderborn University, Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, Germany