ABSTRACT
An increasing body of work in the history of philosophy has demonstrated that women did indeed contribute significantly to philosophy, and the history of women’s philosophy is now recognized as a rich new domain of scholarly enquiry, which is attracting interest across the globe. An important means for widening the scope of the male-dominated mainstream in the history of philosophy and of bringing new and fresh insight on women philosophers and philosophical topics, is to present the voices of women philosophers from outside mainstream traditions, from areas not much heard until now. An important task for historians of philosophy is to enquire into the conditions under which women could pursue philosophy. John Conley’s ‘Tutor, Salon, Convent: the Formation of Women Philosophers in Early Modern France’ shows that the means of receiving education was just as important as the social and intellectual connections of the family in which they were educated and that this influenced what girls were able to learn.
