Abstract
Mississippi-born woman of letters Sarah Anne Ellis Dorsey (1829–1879) deserves a place among nineteenth century American philosophers. Dorsey was a corresponding member of the New Orleans Academy of Sciences. Her lectures there in 1874–1875 on “The Philosophy of the University of France,” “The Aryan Philosophy,” and “The Present Condition of the Question of the Origin of Species” were among the first, if not the first, given by a woman before a learned society in a major city. A second presentation of the evolution lecture was called for and the text was published in The New Orleans Monthly Review. The first two lectures were published as pamphlets by the Academy, listed as Works Received by the St. Louis Journal of Speculative Philosophy and briefly reviewed by the Boston Literary World. The pamphlet on the University of France went through seven editions. The pamphlet on “the Aryan Philosophy” is held in 14 libraries. The pamphlet on the University of France is held in 50. This paper provides a contextualized introduction to her career.
Sarah Anne Dorsey’s premature death at the age of 50 while engaged in hel** Jefferson Davis, the destitute former president of the Confederacy, complete his memoir of the Civil War, prevented her pursuing the career in philosophy that she had begun 5 years earlier with an invited lecture before the New Orleans Academy of Sciences on the Philosophy of the University of France. The open scandal that broke out in newspapers across the country upon the discovery that her will left all her estate to Davis replaced her image as a distinguished intellectual with that of an eccentric old (!) lady prone to hero worship.
But her eclipse was not permanent. Significantly, the beginning of the recovery of her intellectual reputation was due to her association with the New Orleans Academy of Sciences. Reporting on the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Academy, the Times Picayune recalled that “no address was ever enjoyed more” by the members than her lecture on the University of France (2/23/1913).
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Notes
- 1.
Murphy, D. Edward Fontaine. Texas State Historical Association. tshaonline.org, 10/22/2020.
- 2.
I explore these questions in “Restoring Women to the History of Philosophy: Notes on the American Case,” forthcoming in The Journal of the History of Women Philosophers.
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Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Prof. Phyllis Cole, for helpful reading and comments on a manuscript; the UCLA Library System for providing access to its research databases to the Research Scholars of the Center of the Study of Women until 2015; Brenda Johnson-Grau for producing the first version of this paper in the Newsletter of the UCLA Center for the Study of Women in 2016; the Program Chair of the Society for the Study of Women Philosophers for placing the expanded paper on the program for the 2018 meeting of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association; Nathan Eckstrand for editing the 2018 paper for the Blog of the APA; the members of Academia.edu who commented on several drafts; Dr. Kristine Gunnell and my fellow Research Affiliates arranging for and/or attending the 2019 “Brown Bag” presentation of the paper for the CSW; Dr. Katja Antoine for editing the latest paper at csw.ucla.edu; Prof. Mary Ellen Waithe for suggesting that a revised version of the APA blog post be included in the present volume; to Prof. George Vlahakis for accepting the suggestion; and especially Prof. Chelsea Harry for indispensable editing. Errors are all mine.
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Bensick, C.M. (2023). The Francophile Philosophy, Science, and Literature of Sarah A. Dorsey. In: Harry, C.C., Vlahakis, G.N. (eds) Exploring the Contributions of Women in the History of Philosophy, Science, and Literature, Throughout Time. Women in the History of Philosophy and Sciences, vol 20. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39630-4_8
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