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Articles

Philosopher Kings – & Queens?

Helene Scott-Fordsmand explores legitimacy in philosophy.

In 2020 a book by Rebecca Buxton and Lisa Whiting containing twenty portraits of female philosophers was published under the name The Philosopher Queens. It’s one among many recent books about an extensive diversity problem in philosophy, which includes issues of gender, body, language, culture, class, and ethnicity. Here I focus in part on gender.

The title of the aforementioned book is a pun on the concept of ‘philosopher kings’, which many readers may know from Plato’s Republic (c.375 BC).

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