Book Proposal Women and Philosophy in 18th Century Germany (Corey W. Dyck, ed.) I: Rationale and Project Aims Historians of early Modern philosophy are currently in the process of reconsidering the canon of texts and figures that is the object of their discipline. Research on the period, and courses designed to introduce students to it, had previously and unapologetically focused on the various texts of Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Spinoza, Leibniz, and Hume (and sometimes Kant). Yet, scholars have (admittedly rather belatedly) come to realize that this exclusive focus on the "great men" of the Modern period is both historically inaccurate and pedagogically indefensible as it ignores the important and manifold contributions on the part of a variety of marginalized figures, and particularly of women intellectuals. Accordingly, high-profile projects, such as Project Vox (a cooperative endeavour between Duke, Penn, and Columbia), the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists (at Uni-Paderborn), and the New Narratives in the History of Philosophy (run by Lisa Shapiro at SFU) have sought to provide scholarly and pedagogical resources allowing for a better appraisal and appreciation of the variety of ways in which women philosophers and intellectuals in England, Scotland, France, and Holland advanced philosophical and scientific discussion in the early Modern period. Amidst this re-evaluation of the place of women in the history of early Modern philosophy, and indeed of the historian's task in investigating the period, a vital and distinctive intellectual context has thus far been missing, namely, that of the German-speaking lands of Europe during the 17th and 18th century. This is understandable to some extent, as the German scene did not produce a woman of the undeniable philosophical caliber of an Émilie du Châtelet, Lady Masham, or Margaret Cavendish. Yet, women intellectuals contributed crucially (directly and indirectly) to the development of German philosophy in the period, and this in spite of profound and arguably greater institutional, cultural, and religious obstacles than those faced by their English and French contemporaries (as explored in Fronius [2007]). Indeed, in spite of the extreme conservatism of Germany at the time, women intellectuals in 18th century Germany found a range of ways to participate in and influence the public discussions of the day. All of this would suggest, then, that we as historians and students of the period have much to learn from not only studying the published contributions of these neglected figures, but also from attending to the diverse and ingenious ways which they found for engaging (particularly) with their male contemporaries on the issues of the time. Women and Philosophy in 18th Century Germany [WPG], a volume collecting original papers on this neglected group of intellectuals, gathers an exceptional group of scholars for the first time with the explicit aim of composing a comprehensive portrait of the complex and manifold contributions on the part of women in the German-speaking lands of Europe in the 18th century. Among the contributors are a range of international scholars, ranging from emerging researchers to some of the most distinguished scholars and historians of German thought currently active in Canada, the US, Germany, France, and Italy. Moreover, reflecting the complexity of these contributions, the volume will cover a wide array of topics, not only limited to "core" philosophical topics such as metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics but will also branch out to consider their broader impact on theories of education, history of science, and of course on the evolving discussion of gender and the role of women in Enlightened society. Women and Philosophy in 18th Century Germany will thus be international in its composition and multi-disciplinary in its coverage, bringing together scholars with a wide range of interests and expertise engaged in a collaborative effort to introduce these widely overlooked women to early Modern scholars, to understand their within their intellectual context, to 2 confirm their relevance for scholars and historians today, and to greatly enhance our understanding of the diverse historical forms of philosophical participation and engagement. II: List of Contributors and Content of the Work a. List of Contributors Stefanie Buchenau is maître de conferences in the German Studies Department at the Université Paris 8 Saint-Denis and was a Humboldt Fellow at Humboldt Universität in Berlin in 2014. Her research interests include the history of philosophy in the Enlightenment, the philosophy of medicine, anthropology, and aesthetics. She is the author of numerous articles on these topics, as well as of The Founding of Aesthetics: The Art of Invention and the Invention of Art (2013). Corey W. Dyck specializes in the history of German philosophy, with an emphasis on the eighteenth century and Kant in particular. He is the author of Kant and Rational Psychology (2014), co-editor of Kant and his German Contemporaries (2017), and editor and translator of the forthcoming collection Early Modern German Philosophy (1690-1750). He has also published articles in Journal of the History of Philosophy, Kant-Studien, British Journal for the History of Philosophy, Philosophy Compass, Kantian Review, and the Kant Yearbook. He is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario. Ruth Hagengruber is chair in Philosophy at the University of Paderborn, where she is head of the research areas History of Women Philosophers and Scientists and Philosophy and Computation Science. She is the editor and author of several books and essays contributing to the history of women in philosophy, including Von Diana zu Minerva. Philosophierende Aristokratinnen des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts (2010), Klassische Philosophische Texte von Frauen. Texte vom 14. Bis zum 20. Jahrhundert (1998), and Emilie du Châtelet: Between Leibniz and Newton (2012). Christian Leduc specializes in the history modern philosophy (17th and 18th centuries), in particular Leibniz and the German and French Enlightenment. His research focuses on metaphysical and epistemological issues in this period, including the problem of individuation, the relationship between the mind and body, conceptions of space, and the systematic character of knowledge and the relations between mental faculties. He is the author of Substance, individu et connaissance chez Leibniz (2009) in addition to numerous articles and book chapters, and has edited or co-edited volumes on Leibniz and Bayle. He is Associate Professor of philosophy, and current holder of the Epoché chair, at the Université de Montréal. Robert Louden is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern Maine. His research focuses on Kant's ethics, anthropology, and philosophy of education. His publications include Kant's Impure Ethics (2000), Kant's Human Being (2011), and he is coeditor and translator of Anthropology, History, and Education and Lectures on Anthropology in the Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant. He is also a former president of the North American Kant Society. Lydia L. Moland is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Colby College in Waterville, Maine where she is also associate director of the Center for the Arts and Humanities. She is the 3 author of Hegel on Political Identity: Patriotism, Nationality, Cosmopolitanism and the forthcoming Hegel's Aesthetics: The Art of Idealism. She has written numerous articles on moral and political philosophy and is a current fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies Anne Pollok is Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of South Carolina/Columbia. Her primary area of research is aesthetics in the Continental tradition, Moses Mendelssohn's philosophy, and philosophy of culture. Her monograph, Facetten des Menschen. Zu Moses Mendelssohns Anthropologie (2010) was awarded the Mendelssohn Prize of the Moses Mendelssohn Society of Dessau. She is currently working on Ernst Cassirer's philosophy of symbolic forms, and its expansion through Susanne Langer. Bernhard Ritter is university assistant at the University of Klagenfurt where he specializes in Austrian philosophy and the history of analytic philosophy. He has published articles on Kant and Wittgenstein, has co-edited Wittgenstein's Whewell's Court Lectures: Cambridge 1938-41 (2017), and is the author of the forthcoming Kant and Post-Tractarian Wittgenstein: Transcendentalism, Idealism, Illusion. Paola Rumore is Associate Professor for History of Philosophy at the University of Turin. Her research concerns German 18th-century philosophy up to Kant, with a special focus on the debates on psychology and their metaphysical implications, including the divide between rational and empirical psychology, the debate concerning the immortality of the soul, and the struggle against psychological materialism. Most recently, she has published Materia cogitans. L'Aufklärung di fronte al materialismo (2013), and edited a volume of Quaestio entitled Another 18th-century German Philosophy? Rethinking German Enlightenment (2016). Brigitte Sassen is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at McMaster University. Her work focuses on Kant's theoretical philosophy, its context and reception, and post-Kantian Continental philosophy. In addition to articles in Kant-Studien, Journal of the History of Philosophy, and British Journal for the History of Philosophy, Sassen is the editor and translator of Kant's Early Critics: The Empiricist Critique of the Theoretical Philosophy (2000) Reed Winegar is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 2012 and his B.A. from Harvard University in 2005. His research focuses on Kant and the post-Kantian idealists, and his recent work has examined the central importance of Kant's contrast between human, discursive understanding and divine, intuitive understanding for his own treatments of moral and theoretical philosophy, aesthetics, and religion as well as for the transition to Hegel's absolute idealism. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in the Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, British Journal for the History of Philosophy, Hegel Bulletin, Journal of Scottish Philosophy, and Kantian Review. b. Table of Contents Introduction, by Corey W. Dyck 1. "Sophie of Hannover on the Soul-Body Relationship," Christian Leduc 4 2. "Johanna Charlotte Unzer, between Aesthetics, Popular Philosophy, and Anthropology," Stefanie Buchenau 3. "Erxleben and Unzer on Prejudice and the Limits of Learnedness," Corey W. Dyck 4. "Luise Gottsched's Role in the High Noon of German Rationalism," Ruth Hagengruber 5. "Wilhelmine of Bayreuth and the German Enlightenment," Paola Rumore 6. "A Mere Skeleton of the Sciences? Amalia Holst's Critique of Basedow and Campe," Robert Louden 7. "Elise Reimarus: Religion and Reason," Reed Winegar 8. "Madame de Staël and the Roots of American Abolitionism," Lydia L. Moland 9. "The Complex Life of Brendel Mendelssohn/Veit; Dorothea Veit/Schlegel (1764 – 1839)" Brigitte Sassen 10. "On Self-formation without Model: Attempt at a Typology (Henriette Herz, Dorothea Schlegel, Bettina von Arnim)," Anne Pollok 11. "Solace or Counsel for Death: Kant and Maria von Herbert," Bernhard Ritter