Woman and Human Progress in the Enlightenment

The International Conference “Woman and Human Progress in the Enlightenment” will be held remotely on May 22nd-24th, 2026. The conference is organized by members of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Warsaw and is co-financed by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange. To register (free of charge) and receive the Zoom link, please email [email protected].

The conference aims to examine the Enlightenment ideal of human progress and its influence on socio-political and educational reforms of this era, as well as to bring to light the work of understudied, early feminist thinkers who argued against the gendered nature of this ideal. Accordingly, the conference will center on the following three topics: The Enlightenment Ideal of the Development of Humanity and Rational Progress; Pedagogical reforms of the Enlightenment; Early feminist contestations of the gendered conception of becoming enlightened in Poland and Germany: a comparative approach. The event will feature keynote talks by professors renowned for their expertise in these fields, including Corey Dyck (University of Western Ontario), Robert Louden (University of Southern Maine), Charlotte Sabourin (Douglas College), and Anna Tomaszewska (Jagiellonian University).

Conference program:

Day 1, Friday, 22 May:

Session I (11:00-13:45 (all times in CEST)), moderated by Dr Olga Lenczewska:

11:00-11:30    Welcoming remarks and introductions

11:30-12:15      Prof. Agnieszka Nogal (University of Warsaw, Poland): “The Cost of Kantian Reason: Feminist Philosophy and the Unintended Consequences of Dualism”

12:15-13:00      Prof. Nuria Sánchez Madrid (Complutense University of Madrid, Spain): “The German Enlightenment towards the Domination of Women: Kant, von Hippel, and Holst”

13:00-13:45      Dr Federico Rossato (Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany): “Philosophia wolfiana non facit philosophum: Luise Gottsched and the Project for a Radical Volksaufklärung in the Context of the Hochaufklärung”

13:45-15:00      Break

Session II (15:00-16:30), moderated by Dr Olga Lenczewska:

15:00-15:45      Ms. Elżbieta Filipow (University of Warsaw, Poland): “Differences in Human Nature between Women and Men and the Consequences for Rational Progress of Humanity in Light of Kantian Anthropology and Ethics”

15:45-16:30      Dr Björn Freter (Towson University, USA): “Philosophical Subversion in Johanna Charlotte Unzer’s Grundriß einer Weltweisheit für das Frauenzimmer”

Day 2, Saturday, 23 May:

Session III (9:00-11:30), moderated by Ms. Elżbieta Filipow:

9:00-10:00        KEYNOTE LECTURE | Prof. Robert Louden (University of Southern Maine (emeritus), University of Hawaii, USA): “Basedow and Girls’ Education: An (Ir)resolvable Contradiction?”

10:00-10:45      Ms. Linda Brancaleone (The Magna Græcia University of Catanzaro, Italy): “Education, Family, and Emancipation: Wollstonecraft and de Gouges as Precursors of Radical Feminism”

10:45-11:30      Prof. Éva Antal (Eszterházy Károly Catholic University, Hungary): “Mary Wollstonecraft’s Educational View on the History of the French Revolution”

11:30-14:30      Break  (due to time zone differences)

Session IV (14:30-17:00), moderated by Dr Kinga Elert:

14:30-15:15      Mr. Antoni Odorowski (Jagiellonian University, Poland): “Princess Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach as an Enlightened Patroness of Science”

15:15-16:00      Dr Wojciech Kozyra (University of Warsaw, Poland): “The Jewish Fear of Progress: The Cases of Mendelssohn and Ascher”

16:00-17:00      KEYNOTE LECTURE | Prof. Charlotte Sabourin (Douglas College, Canada): “A Topic of Study for the Philosopher: Femininity and the Culture of Enlightenment”

Day 3, Sunday, 24 May:

Session V (10:00-12:30), moderated by Prof. Rafał Wonicki:

10:00-11:00      KEYNOTE LECTURE | Prof. Anna Tomaszewska (Jagiellonian University, Poland): “Kant on Swedenborg and the Enlightenment Women’s Religiousness”

11:00-11:45      Dr Guillem Sales Vilalta (Spanish National Research Council, Spain): “The Dream of Reason and Its Monsters: Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindications and Their Reworking in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” 

11:45-12:30      Dr Federico Rampinini (University of Graz, Austria): “Unsocial Sociability Reframed: Amalia Holst between Rousseau and Kant on Progress”

12:30-13:30      Break

Session VI (13:30-16:00), moderated by Dr Olga Lenczewska:

13:30-14:15      Dr Kinga Elert (University of Warsaw, Poland): “Gabrielle Suchon’s Political Celibacy as a Critique of the Compulsory Sexuality and the Heteropatriarchal Institution of Marriage”

14:15-15:00      Dr Konrad Wyszkowski (University of Warsaw, Poland): “Eleonora Ziemięcka: Progressive Function, Conservative Content”

15:00-16:00      KEYNOTE LECTURE | Prof. Corey Dyck (University of Western Ontario, Canada): “Amalia Holst and Elisa Reimarus on Children’s Religious Education”

16:00-16:15      Concluding remarks

Conference organizers: Dr Olga Lenczewska, Ms. Elżbieta Filipow, Dr Kinga Elert. 

Academic committee: Dr Magdalena Gawin, Prof. Paweł Łuków, Prof. Agnieszka Nogal, Prof. Magdalena Środa, Prof. Rafał Wonicki.

Patrons and sponsors: Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange, Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Warsaw, Polskie Towarzystwo Filozoficzne.