PhD project

Amidst the men of power and influence in revolutionary and Napoleonic France, an emancipated lady rose. Her eloquent and sharp voice was just as loved as feared. For this unique woman had a strong independent mind. Bright and filled with ideas of her own. Her books became best-sellers, her political influence was wide-spread, and her power goes as far as to even frighten off the great Napoleon Bonaparte himself – why else would you send a woman for 10 years into exile?

These words describe Anne-Louise Germaine Necker (1766 - 1817), baroness of Staël-Holstein, or better known as Madame de Staël, an influential voice in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. She was born in Switzerland, daughter of Jacques Necker, banker and director general of finance under Louis XVI, and salonnière and writer Suzanne Curchod. She married the Swedish Ambassador Erik Magnus, baron de Staël-Holstein, who was positioned in Paris. It was a marriage of convenience. Love was sought elsewhere, often leading to wonderful intellectual collaborations. In 1803, Staël was forced by Napoleon into exile because of her publications of Delphine (1802) and Corinne (1807). During her exile, she visited (among other European countries) Germany, where she became familiar with the work of early German romantic philosophers. Nowadays, she is particularly known for her work De l’Allemagne, in which she reflects on her encounters with German culture, literature, and philosophy.

Recently, there has been a major revival of interest in the life and work of Staël. Over the last decades, extensive biographies have been written on her life, politics, literary influence, and correspondences. Yet, despite her invaluable intellectual contributions, Staël has generally been overlooked as a philosophe, and up-to-date research on her philosophical thought is still strongly lacking. This is particularly remarkable in light of the rediscovery of 18th century liberal thinking – to which Staël was an influential contributor. But it also marks an evident lacuna within the history of philosophy itself: women are all too often left out.

Intellectually, Staël was influenced by a broad range of traditions, most importantly by the late French and Scottish Enlightenment, 18th century Sentimentalism, and Early German Romanticism. These intellectual movements, however, embrace different perspectives on the concept of human nature. Where les philosophes of the Enlightenment emphasize rationality, universal human goals, natural law and natural science, the Romanticists focus on imagination, religion, enthusiasm, and passions. The aim of my dissertation is to demonstrate that De Staël’s work inventively brings together these traditions, forming a new marriage between rationality and emotionality, as seen through the lens of modern, female, moderate liberalism.

NL | Voor Faces of Science, een initiatief van de KNAW, de Jonge Akademie en NEMO Kennislink, blog ik de komende jaren over mijn ervaringen als promovendus. Dit om scholieren en studenten te enthousiasmeren voor wetenschappelijk onderzoek. In deze video presenteer ik in 3 minuten mijn promotieonderzoek.

NL | Voor de podcast van Felix & Sofie ondervroeg Linde van Schuppen mij over de filosofische ideeën van Germaine de Staël en het belang van het doen van onderzoek naar vrouwen in de geschiedenis van de filosofie. Je kunt het gesprek luisteren via Stitcher https://lnkd.in/evzz-69 / of Spotify https://spoti.fi/361aV4v / of de Apple podcast app https://lnkd.in/eSJE4Er.

My PhD research is conducted at the Erasmus University Rotterdam and supervised by prof.dr. J.A. van Ruler and prof.dr. L. van Bunge.

If you want to get in touch with me about my academic work, you can reach me here.