Earlier this week we introduced one of the keynote lectures of the Libori Summer School 2026, featuring Prof. Dr. Dorota Dutsch and her talk “Women in the Archive: An Argument with Silence.” Her keynote will take place on 28 July 2026 within the session “Women Philosophers in Antiquity.”
Alongside the keynote program, the Libori Summer School will also feature a series of thematic sessions led by international scholars, offering participants the opportunity to engage with current research on women philosophers and scientists across diverse philosophical fields.
Below is an overview of the currently planned sessions and their course leaders (all subject to change).
WOMEN PHILOSOPHERS IN ANTIQUITY
Chelsea Harry
An Alternate Origin Story: Sappho of Lesvos and Ancient Greek Philosophy
Kris McLain
Theorizing Power: Ancient Women Philosophers on the Maintenance of the State
(This session explores the philosophical contributions of women thinkers in antiquity. By revisiting figures such as Sappho and examining ancient reflections on political order and the maintenance of the state, the session invites participants to reconsider the role of women within the intellectual landscape of ancient philosophy.)
WOMEN IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Elodie Pinel
Mystic Women as Philosophers: Revisiting the History of Middle Ages Philosophy
Sina Menke
« Tacheles! » – Dialectical Self-Defense in Christine de Pizan’s La Cité des Dames
(This session focuses on women’s philosophical voices in the medieval period. It highlights the intellectual work of mystics and authors such as Christine de Pizan, examining how philosophical reflection emerged through theological, literary, and dialectical forms of argument.)
WOMEN IN THE (EARLY) MODERN PERIOD
David Harmon
Images and Imagination in Anne Conway’s Vitalistic Inversion of Mechanical Philosophy
Juliette Morice
tbc
Björn Freter
Polite Insurrection. Johanna Charlotte Unzer’s Outline of Worldly Wisdom for Women
(This session investigates women’s contributions to early modern philosophy, exploring how figures such as Anne Conway and Johanna Charlotte Unzer engaged with questions of imagination, knowledge, and the social conditions of intellectual life.)
ÉMILIE DU CHÂTELET
Pierpaolo Betti
Du Châtelet’s Influence on Kant’s Natural Philosophy
Clara Carus
Du Châtelet’s Metaphysics: The Knowable and Unknowable
Ana Rodrigues
Embodiment and Rational Agency in Du Châtelet’s Moral Theory
(This session is dedicated to the philosophical work of Émilie Du Châtelet and her influence on eighteenth-century thought. It examines her contributions to metaphysics, natural philosophy, and moral theory, as well as her broader role in shaping Enlightenment debates on reason, knowledge, and agency.)
Interested in seeing the lectures live?
Then sign up here for the Libori Summer School 2026:
https://indico.uni-paderborn.de/event/157/
If you would like to participate actively in the discussions or present your own work, please consider submitting an application:
https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/call-for-applications-libori-summer-school-2026/
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