The University of Gothenburg
In Nicomachean Ethics and Politics, Aristotle conceived ethics and politics to be both interrelated and exclusively male endeavors.
This notion continued to be influential in the early modern period (c. 1500–1800). Yet in recent decades, feminist scholarship has showed that throughout the early modern world numerous women nonetheless discussed, developed, and challenged politics and ethics in profound and often surprising ways.
The conference Early Modern Women on Politics and Ethics is organized
by the Early Modern Seminar and the research network Philosophy in Other Words, at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. It is dedicated to early modern women’s engagement with politics and ethics as philosophers, authors, critics, translators, editors, artists, patrons, salonnières, pamphleteers, political agents, letter writers, etcetera.
Multidisciplinary in scope, the conference will bring together scholars working in various scientific fields. We especially welcome contributions that concern underexplored geographical contexts, languages, and traditions.
Suggested topics include, but are not limited to
• Marginalized voices in politics and ethics
• Genres of political and ethical writing
• Representations of political and moral authority
• Subversive political and ethical thought
• Global perspectives on politics and ethics
• Public and private agency
• Material aspects of politics and ethics
• Reception and circulation of political and ethical thought
• Ethics and politics of sexuality
• Politics and ethics in religious contexts
Confirmed keynotes
• Unn Falkeid, University of Oslo
• Carin Franzén, Stockholm University
• Dena Goodman, University of Michigan
• Marie-Frédérique Pellegrin, Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University
• Melissa E. Sanchez, University of Pennsylvania
To submit, please send a 300-word proposal for a 20-minute paper and a brief biographical note to earlymodern@lir.gu.se by February 1, 2023. Notice of acceptance will be given by March 1, 2023.
Organizing committee: Maria Johansen, Cecilia Rosengren, Matilda Amundsen Bergström, Alexandra Herlitz, Philip Lavender.