"Kersey has compiled a list of some 150 women philosophers born generally before 1920. Varying according to the amount of information available, each listing includes biographical information and some critical description of the subject's work. Where controversies over subjects or their works exist, they are identified. Each entry is completed with a bibliography of `Works By,' if extant, and `Works About.' The 25-page introductory essay places women philosophers within the context of the history of philosophy by period and includes a section on `Women and Philosophy in America.' An alphabetical list of the subjects, indicating period, country, and discipline or principal subject of writings, plus a name index completes the volume. The value of this work is the identification of these women as philosophers and the bringing together of information that is available, but widely dispersed. Much of this information could be gleaned from several dozen encyclopedic or biographical sources and the few available studies of women philosophers or women in science (e.g., the ongoing History of Women Philosophers, ed. by Mary Ellen Waithe; v.1, Ancient Women Philosophers, 600 B.C.-500 A.D., 1987) or Beatrice H. Zedler's translation of the 1690 Latin Historia mulierum philosopharum by Gilles Menage as The History of Women Philosophers Kersey's work, however, will save the user much time and trouble. Attractively printed and well bound; recommended for both public and academic libraries." -- Choice
Review
“Kersey has compiled a list of some 150 women philosophers born generally before 1920. Varying according to the amount of information available, each listing includes biographical information and some critical description of the subject's work. Where controversies over subjects or their works exist, they are identified. Each entry is completed with a bibliography of `Works By,' if extant, and `Works About.' The 25-page introductory essay places women philosophers within the context of the history of philosophy by period and includes a section on `Women and Philosophy in America.' An alphabetical list of the subjects, indicating period, country, and discipline or principal subject of writings, plus a name index completes the volume. The value of this work is the identification of these women as philosophers and the bringing together of information that is available, but widely dispersed. Much of this information could be gleaned from several dozen encyclopedic or biographical sources and the few available studies of women philosophers or women in science (e.g., the ongoing History of Women Philosophers, ed. by Mary Ellen Waithe; v.1, Ancient Women Philosophers, 600 B.C.-500 A.D., 1987) or Beatrice H. Zedler's translation of the 1690 Latin Historia mulierum philosopharum by Gilles Menage as The History of Women Philosophers Kersey's work, however, will save the user much time and trouble. Attractively printed and well bound; recommended for both public and academic libraries.”–
“Women philosophers have not received their due in the discipline's reference works. Kersey's international biographical dictionary of women philosophers from ancient times up until the present (excluding those born since 1920) redresses that situation. She has depended heavily on Gilles Menage's The History of Women Philosophers (1690, reprinted and translated, Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1984) to identify obscure ancient and medieval women philosophers, many of whom are known only secondhand since none of their writings survive. Users of this dictionary can easily refer to Menage's account, as his book has served as Kersey's principal source of information and the bibliography concluding each biography cites Menage by page number. These two-part bibliographies cite works by and about the biographee. All entries identify the subject's nationality and field of specialization and those for modern subjects chronicle education and professional positions. Entries on some of the ancient philosophers known only by reputation are brief, while those on modern philosophers run as long as four pages. To the extent that documentary evidence permits, every entry traces the woman's intellectual development, summarizes her thought, and assesses her work. A table preceding the index lists the 160 subjects alphabetically and notes for each her century, country, and discipline or school. Additional lists by each of these attributes would have further facilitated thematic approaches to the biographies. This very capably fills a very evident gap in the philosophy reference corpus.”–
“This book was written to fill a gap Kersy discovered in the reference literature, a complete lack of a biographical source identifying women philosophers. She has produced a biographical dictionary with sketches of all the women philosophers she could discover from antiquity up to those born in 1920. Her twenty-four page introduction summarizes the places of these women in the history of philosophy. Philosophers, Women's Studies scholars and their students will find this a useful reference work.”–
“This work developed from the discovery that there existed no biographical dictionaries of women philosophers, and few references to women in textbooks on the history of philosophy. Intended to fill that void, the book covers more than 170 women born before 1920 who wrote about or pondered questions of Western intellectual life. The volume includes extensive bibliographies of both primary and secondary works about each philosopher. An in-depth introduction establishes the context for the reference, and an appendix provides charts showing women philosophers by century, nationality and discipline. An index of names completes the source book.”–
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