Ladies philosophy

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The women's philosophy is a form of popular scientific writing, especially in the Age of Enlightenment . It is aimed at a noble, later increasingly bourgeois audience.

Ladies' philosophical texts convey established philosophy models to non-scholars. In terms of content, they often focus on topics of practical philosophy such as moral theory . Formally they tend to be in dialogue or letter form. They are generally understandable and written in German. Women are always addressees, most likely readers and rarely authors of women's philosophical texts.

Concept history

The term “women's philosophy” was used sporadically in the 18th and 19th centuries and was not used scientifically. It stands in a row with "Philosophy for women", "Ladies sciences", "Ladies morality", "Women room morals", "Girls philosophy". 'Women's philosophy' was only established as a technical term in current research on the history of philosophy. Werner Schneiders introduced him to the discussion ( Between World and Wisdom , 1983; Das philosophische Frauenzimmer , 1991).

Conceptual reflection

"Ladies philosophy" is controversial as a scientific term. One of the reasons for this is that the term currently has a different connotation than it was in the 18th century . Today it is semantically close to nouns like "ladies 'circle", "ladies' football" and is therefore often unreflectedly associated with unprofessionalism and leisure time enjoyment.

However, a linguistic historical reflection on terms leads further. Until the 18th century, “lady” as a term for woman referred to an aristocratic context. Therefore, the term “women's philosophy” is quite apt. The so-called popular scientific literature emerged in the context of courtly-gallant literature and aristocratic sociability. From there she conquered middle-class terrain. The term “women's philosophy” is not actually applicable to other constellations in which women and philosophy come together. It is to be distinguished from

  • Philosophy by and for women in general
  • the history of female philosophizing
  • feminist philosophy
  • philosophical women and gender studies.

Definition and systematization

Werner Schneiders differentiates in a fleeting sketch

  • a formal ladies' philosophy in a broad sense, i.e. addressed to women of class
  • a women's philosophy in the narrow sense of the word, that is, a women's philosophy based on their alleged or real interests, conceived for women
  • a women's philosophy in the narrowest sense and written by women
  • a ladies' philosophy in the strictest sense, written by women for women.

Schneider does not elaborate on Schneider's scheme; it has no theoretical claim and leaves questions unanswered (why, for example, does the attribute “written for women” only belong to women's philosophy in the strictest sense?). There is no more precise systematization of the women's philosophy. It could be achieved with a gender-theoretical communication model . Aspects of this model would be: gender of the sender (author), gender specifics of the message (text content), gender of the intended recipient (addressee) and of the actual recipient ( recipient ). The only necessary criterion for a women's philosophical script would be that the addressee belongs to the female gender.

The women's philosophy stands in two contexts.

Context 1: knowledge and popularization

Enlightenment in the 18th century means

  • increasing literacy
  • Reading promotion
  • Differentiation of the sciences
  • Development of the media spectrum
  • Imparting knowledge to non-scholars.

Christian Thomasius is considered a pioneer of educational knowledge popularization. The subtitle of his introduction to the doctrine of reason (1691) is expressly aimed at people “waserley class or gender”. Some German Enlightenmentists of the 18th century wrote numerous other popular science texts. Popular philosophers such as Christian Garve , Moses Mendelssohn and Johann Jacob Engel spread recognized philosophical doctrines. Your distance to the school philosophy is evident in terms of form and content: You write in German, generally understandable and often in dialogue or letter form. Her texts address the applicability and benefits of philosophical concepts, morals and help in life. The women's philosophy can be assigned to this popular philosophy. Their specificity is the relation to the addressee.

Context 2: knowledge and gender

Literacy, reading promotion, knowledge transfer: women only took part in these educational processes to a limited extent. Education for girls was far from being taken for granted. Women were only admitted to the university in exceptional cases. Female authorship was met with stubborn skepticism. Nevertheless, the 18th century was a lively discussion about female education . Education always meant philosophical education: Philosophy, then often referred to as “world wisdom”, encompassed a wide spectrum of knowledge of the world and man, of nature and spirit. Textbooks, magazines, reading lists and encyclopedias for women were created. These media assigned women special knowledge. That knowledge corresponded to the “determination” of women to be wives, housewives and mothers, which was increasingly thought of as “natural”, but actually given by society. Such a gender-specific transfer of knowledge also takes place in women's philosophical texts. Research judges him ambiguously: On the one hand, women were able to access knowledge independently for the first time. On the other hand, it was controlled and restricted. Since women were only supposed to acquire specific female knowledge, they were excluded from general male knowledge.

Authors and writings

The beginnings of women's philosophy do not lie in Germany. In France, women were already discussing the capacity for philosophy in the 17th century (François Poullain de la Barre: De l'éducation des dames pour la conduite de l'esprit dans des sciences et dans les moeurs , 1674; Armand de Gérard: La philosophie des gens de cour , 1680). It was there that the first and most famous work of the women's philosophical canon was written:

In an erotic-gallant, entertaining conversation under the starry sky, a first-person narrator explains the Cartesian-Copernican view of the world to a noble lady . Fontenelle's Entretiens was often translated and widely received. In England, women's magazines such as Lady's Journal (1693 ff.) And Ladies Diary (1704 ff.) Spread philosophical and other scientific topics. The first German philosophy textbook for women appeared under the pseudonym Clisander in Leipzig in 1720: The introduction to world whiteness or philosophy of a gallant woman is attributed to the Thomasius School. Shortly thereafter, an MFCB teaches students and women about the first and foremost reasons of world wisdom (1724). The book was translated into Russian by Antioch Kantemir in 1730 , but was not published until 1740.

An Italian women's philosophy achieved greater awareness than these German textbooks:

Following Fontenelle's example, the Italian scholar and courtier Francesco Algarotti wrote a 'Newton for women'. The dialogue popularizes Newton's optics and mechanics. It became famous all over Europe and has been translated many times. The women's philosophy established itself in Germany primarily through cultural transfer. Translations on Fontenelle and Algarotti published. Magazines were created based on the English model of 'moral weeklies'; they targeted readers and popularized philosophical topics. In 'women's libraries' they recommended books for further philosophical training. Johann Christoph Gottsched plays a central role here. He published the first German-language Moral Weekly ( The Reasonable Tadlerinnen , 1725/26). His Conversations of More than One World (1726) is not the first, but it is the most powerful of Fontenelle's translations.

The leading philosophical school in the first half of the 18th century was Wolffian-style rationalism . This reflects the women's philosophy.

  • Samuel Heinrich Formey : La belle Wolfienne (1741–1753)
    The Berlin philosopher Samuel Heinrich Formey, originally from France, wrote a six-volume novel on Christian Wolff's philosophical teachings, translated as Die Schöne Wolfianerin (1741/42).
  • Johanna Charlotte Unzer : Outline of a World Wisdom for the Woman (1751, 2nd extended edition 1767)
    The best-known German women's philosophy owes its reputation to the gender of the author. Johanna Charlotte Unzer presents a less original treatment of current philosophy, especially Leibniz-Wolff teachings. In doing so, she maintains a cheerful, conversational tone and protects herself from genuine learning.
  • Leonhard Euler : Lettres à une Princesse d'Allemagne (1768)
    The Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler, who worked for many years in St. Petersburg and Berlin, directed his French writing to a niece of Frederick the Great. In the form of a letter, he conveys basic knowledge of physics, mathematics, astronomy, theology and philosophy. From 1769–1773 the translation of letters to a German princess on various subjects from physics and philosophy appeared.
  • Philippine von Knigge : Attempting a Logic for Women (1789)
    Another work on women's philosophy comes from the daughter of Baron Adolph von Knigge . According to the preface, it is a transcript of fatherly teachings. Philippine von Knigges goal is an application-related “order of female terms” (Jauch, p. 110).
  • In the same year a free translation from the French appeared in the form of a letter to a lady: Friedrich Eberhard von Rochow : A Little Logic or Reason-Application-Doctrine (1789). In general, however, women's philosophy lost its importance at the end of the century at the latest, even if the following titles can still be found in the 19th century: Philosophy for women (Schiller, 1803); Letter to a lady on Hegelian philosophy (Karl Wilhelm Ernst Mager, 1837).

Subversive philosophizing or metaphysics in miniature

Ursula Pia Jauch's book Women's Philosophy & Men's Morality (1990) made the term 'women's philosophy' known. Jauch describes a philosophy for “the unlearned woman”, “without claiming a classical philosophical seal of approval” (p. 19). Her thesis: The philosophy of women deconstructs traditional school metaphysics. However, Jauch does not succeed in demonstrating this subversive potential of women's philosophy. Her own ironic devaluation of women's philosophy as “little metaphysics and logic that can be divided into small, easily comprehensible, neat learning steps” (p. 109) also contradicts this.

literature

  • Andreas Gipper: Wonderful science. Literary strategies of scientific vulgarization in France. From Cyrano de Bergerac to the Encyclopédie. Fink, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-7705-3716-5 .
  • Ursula Pia Jauch: Women's philosophy & men's morality. From Abbé de Gérard to Marquis de Sade. An experiment on smiling reason. 2., through and corr. Edition. Passagen, Vienna 1991, ISBN 3-900767-48-3 .
  • John Mullan: Gendered Knowledge, Gendered Minds: Women and Newtonianism, 1690-1760. In: Marina Benjamin (Ed.): A Question of Identity: Women, Science and Literature. Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick 1993, ISBN 0-8135-1982-9 , pp. 41-58.
  • Patricia Phillips: The Scientific Lady. A Social History of Women's Scientific Interests. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London 1990, ISBN 0-297-82043-5 .
  • Moira R. Rogers: Newtonianism for the ladies and other uneducated souls. The popularization of science in Leipzig, 1687–1750. Lang, New York et al. 2003, ISBN 0-8204-5029-4 .
  • Werner Schneiders: Between the world and wisdom. On the secularization of philosophy in early modernity. [1983]; The Philosophical Woman [1991]. In: Ders .: Philosophy of Enlightenment - Enlightenment of Philosophy. Collected Studies. Edited by Frank Grunert. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-428-11658-5 , pp. 343-364, pp. 365-397.

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