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 in the framework of the research project ‘Enlightenment-Era Pedagogical Reforms and Arguments against the Gendered Conception of Human Progress in Poland and Germany’supported by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange.

Our 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 be organized around the following thematic blocks: (1) The Enlightenment Ideal of the Development of Humanity and Rational Progress; (2) Pedagogical reforms of the Enlightenment; (3) 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 Andrew Cooper (University of Warwick), Corey Dyck (University of Western Ontario), Robert Louden (University of Southern Maine), Charlotte Sabourin (Douglas College), and Anna Tomaszewska (Jagiellonian University).

Abstracts of approximately 300 words should be submitted to Olga Lenczewska ([email protected]) by December 31st, 2025. Selected participants will have 30 minutes for their presentation, which will be followed by a 15-minutes’ long discussion.

The conference will be followed by the preparation and publication of a special issue of the journal Etyka – one of Poland’s leading philosophy venues. The conference participants are welcome (but not required) to publish the written version of their presentations in this special issue, subject to external peer review conducted by the journal. Submissions of written versions of the conference talks to the journal will be due on May 20th, 2026.

Conference organizers: Dr. Olga Lenczewska, Elżbieta Filipow, Dr. Kinga Elert, and Zbigniew Kubiatowski. Academic committee: Dr. Magdalena Gawin, Prof. Paweł Łuków, Prof. Agnieszka Nogal, Prof. Magdalena Środa, and Prof. Rafał Wonicki.