We are thrilled to announce that the In Parenthesis project has been awarded a British Academy/Leverhulme Research Grant! The grant will run for two years from April 1st 2016. Among other initiatives, a monthly reading group will kick off soon. Virtual posts will give pointers and context on key Wartime Group texts. If you want to join in, or set up a satellite reading group, let us know!
In Parenthesis
Grant Proposal Abstract
Elizabeth Anscombe, Phillipa Foot, Mary Midgley, Iris Murdoch, and Mary Warnock all graduated from Oxford during WWII. This period has been called “The Golden-Age of Female Philosophy” since it constitutes a unique case of women achieving collective prominence in the male-dominated discipline of philosophy. While each member of the ‘Wartime Group’ is recognized as an important philosopher, no study has been made of these remarkable women as a collective or distinct philosophical school. The current project acts as a corrective. Historical work will paint a picture of the structural and institutional conditions under which they studied and worked. As the social and intellectual landscape of academic philosophy was altered as a result of the disruptions of WWII, some have hypothesized that the absence of men, both as tutors and peers, created a more conducive environment for women to flourish intellectually and professionally. Archival work will test this suggestion. Their philosophical worldview will be detailed through close and comparative reading of their collective corpus.