Talk:List of women philosophers

standard for inclusion
some of the people on this list may not be philosophers, is there a standard for inclusion that differentiates philosophers from literary writers? --Buridan 02:18, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

routledge
let's keep in mind, that the routledge book does not actually define rand as a philosopher as reported in other discussions. does anyone have a copy of that book to look up her entry?--Buridan 13:12, 23 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I have a copy and she isn't defined as a philosopher therein. But this list says nothing about anyone being defined as anything.  Surely some people have called her a philosopher, and that is enough.  There are so few female role models in philosophy that we shouldn't be trying to eliminate any of the few that have made themselves visible. KSchutte 20:16, 6 February 2007 (UTC)


 * That statement is complete POV. If she is not a philosopher, she shouldn't be on the list. Your agenda is clear ("there are so few female role models...") 64.236.80.62 (talk) 18:06, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

Rand is an interesting case. While the few books on women in philosophy that I have read have ignored Rand, it seems that this is a hotly contested issue. It is true that her work was influenced by several philosophers including Nietzsche and Marx. In addition, she did write philosophical essays as well as her novels. I think the real problem lies in the content of her philosophy which is controversial. Do we accept her as a philosopher and, thus, give credence to her views or do we ignore her contributions and, thus, downgrade the value of her work? I think I'll let other wikipedians hash this out but I do find it interesting. I'm curious about the outcome. Dyname42 (talk) 15:31, 20 August 2011 (UTC)

By any objective academic standard Rand was not a philosopher. Her followers give her credit for insights/concepts she plagiarised from Aristotle, Nietzsche, Adam Smith and others. And her original contributions are easily dismissed by anyone with a decent grounding in philosophy. She is an American cultural phenomenon just like L Ron Hubbard. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 118.90.5.231 (talk) 00:19, 15 February 2013 (UTC)

Violating Gender Neutrality
We must be gender blind or the mobs will get us. Merge this category with philosophers OR FACE THE WRATH OF THE MOB! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.173.21.154 (talk) 19:33, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

I can't tell if this is a serious proposal or not, but it is important to keep the list of women philosophers for many reasons. For example, (1) Women are under-represented in philosophy and it is important for those women who are interested in philosophy to know that there have been women philosophers for as long as there have been male philosophers. (2) In order to increase the representation of women in philosophy, it is valuable for those who are already in the field to gain recognition. A list helps. Shaslang (talk) 23:02, 15 April 2014 (UTC)
 * Hi - The person you were responding to is pretty much just a troll.  There's no policy-based reason to get rid of this list, and I'm confident it'll stay around for pretty much eternity.  best, Kevin Gorman (talk) 23:06, 15 April 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks, Kevin! Good to know.  I'm just getting the hang of this so can't tell who is a troll and who not.  I'm learning as I go! Shaslang (talk) 00:35, 16 April 2014 (UTC)

Thank You So Much! Could we also include a list by era?
As a woman, educated but without coursework in philosophy per se, I am so grateful to have discovered this list of Women philosophers! The work I've done since my doctorate has been very existential in its focus, but calling myself a philosopher seemed somehow inappropriate, especially with no female role models I could relate to. Otoh, this definition from Philosopher really does describe me well:

"In the classical sense, a philosopher is someone who lives according to a way of life, whose focus is upon resolving existential questions about the human condition."

There's a remarkable graphic novel style book called "Action Philosophers" that I highly recommend for fun and a good introduction to the famous male philosophers of history. Only woman included is Ayn Rand, not one of the people I can identify with.

This list makes it a whole lot easier. Would having it sorted by date, below the alphasort, be possible? Reviewing their pages based on their point in history will be very educational.

Thank you again! DrMel (talk) 18:21, 26 January 2015 (UTC)


 * I sorted the list Alphabetically, but I am not sure by Era would be helpful as a list. What would you thnk about embedding the list in the page 'Women in Philosophy'?Maayansh (talk) 22:45, 4 April 2015 (UTC)-

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