Teaching women into the history of early analytic philosophy

A great number of women were active in early analytic philosophy. However, there is still a lack of attention paid to their contributions in research and teaching. In order to change this situation, this paper sets out practical ways to incorporate women’s works into a core philosophy syllabus. Pedagogically, it will be important to explain early analytic women philosophers’ style and context, for they often have unfamiliar ideas and arguments, some of which pre-figure later moves, celebrated when written by men. For example, Constance Jones’ 1890 signification-denotation distinction prefigured Frege's sense and reference; Susan Stebbing’s 1932 distinction between same-level and directional analysis solved the paradox of analysis 10 years before it was formulated; Ruth Barcan’s 1946–47 quantified modal logic was not only the first such logic, but forced Quine to re-examine his anti-modal arguments. Stebbing, Alice Ambrose, and Margaret MacDonald wrote compellingly about the nature and function of philosophy. We provide practical suggestions about how to integrate early analytic women’s work in teaching: interrogating ‘great man’ narratives by designing courses that are not person- but topic-based, integrating intellectual biography, examining women’s influence on others instead of presenting their ideas as a ‘critique’ of men’s, and including women’s names in essay/exam questions.