Have a sneak peek into the Center's work in Early Modern Philosophy and Science.

This month is Women’s History Month. Each week of this month, we will introduce you to the Center’s work by focusing on a particular historical period in philosophy and science.

We begin this week with our work in Early Modern Philosophy and Science, one of the Center’s core pillars. Two philosophers are at the core of our work: Émilie du Châtelet and Elisabeth of Bohemia.

We currently have two projects on Émilie du Châtelet: the Paris manuscripts (currently being worked on by Hanns-Peter Neumann, Aaron Wells and Pedro Pricladnitzky) and the St. Petersburg manuscripts (currently being worked on by Ruth E. Hagengruber and Jil Muller). The twelfth chapter of the Institutions de physique has recently been published online.

However, Émilie du Châtelet is one of the core figures for the Center. Numerous projects have been dedicated to her life and legacy, as you can see here.

You can also read about her life and work in our Directory and find entries about some particular concepts in her work in our ECC.

Elisabeth of Bohemia can also be found in our Directory and in our ECC. As a philosopher who is almost a regional figure, she is also honoured here at the Center with an award that bears her name: Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize. It is donated by Ulrike Detmers, and awarded to an outstanding contemporary philosopher. Last year’s winner was Laura Aurora Benítez Grobet. You can find the video of the ceremony here. In 2018, we also had a 3-day conference on Elisabeth-of Bohemia- Life and Legacy, where one of our research fellows, Jil Muller, presented her paper on Vernunft und Leidenschaften der Seele. Das Beispiel der Traurigkeit in den Briefen an Elisabeth von der Pfalz.

In addition to these two major figures, the Center has conducted research on many women in the early modern period. Some of the results can be found, for example, in the New Voices Talk Series, Early Modern Women on Knowledge, Émilie du Châtelet and Women on History of Education;  and in the ECC entries.

But our Sight and Sound page also contains little treasures relating to early modern women philosophers and scholars.

To find young scholars working in this field, please join our page Find Scholars in New Voices.