November 2023
Women in philosophy : reflections and diffractions
Please reference as: Maria Tamboukou. 2023. 'Diffractions on Happiness', https://sites.google.com/view/numbersandnarratives/newsletter/november-2023
In November 2023 I participated in the annual conference of the Society for Women in Philosophy conference at Maynooth University Ireland with a paper on happiness reading diffractively Émilie Du Châtelet's and Sophie Germain's philosophical writings. The call for papers was inspiring as it was opening up thr realm of philosophival thinking around the question: 'What is philosophy'?
What counts as doing philosophy?
Does philosophy enable us to think differently and think difference?
What kinds of sense-making are we engaged with?
Who are we writing for and speaking with - academics, a public, counterpublics?
Who decides what philosophy is?
Who polices its boundaries?
What qualifies one as a philosopher?
Have perceptions of philosophy changed in recent years?
Why do philosophy?
What do we see as our role as philosophers?
In responding to some of these questions above, included in their call for papers I presented my own thought on philosophical ideas on happiness through a diffractive reading of Émilie Du Châtelet's and Sophie Germain's philosophical writings. My main argument was that although both women have made a significant contribution in the philosophical history of ideas around happiness, as well as affects, emotions and feelings, they are absent from the philosophical canon, even within the wider realm of feminist philosophies.
This conference presentation drew on a paper that I had submitted to the Journal of the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists earlier in spring, a piece that I was inspired to write after attending a conference on happiness in continental philosophy thatI have already written about back in the March 2023 newsletter. This paper was eventually published later in November. You can read the whole paper either in the pre-published on-line version of the journal, or as the author's accepted copy from my university's repository. Enjoy and be happy!