Helena Petrovna Blavatsky: Blavatsky’s Place in the History of Philosophy

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Abstract

This chapter considers Helena Petrovna Blavatsky’s place in the history of philosophy. She is known as a theosophist, but is she, in fact, an overlooked women philosopher? To answer this question, the chapter discusses what the history of philosophy means and the criteria one might propose for accepted inclusion. It takes an intertextual approach to Blavatsky’s role to demonstrate that Blavatsky engaged with philosophy and formulated her views on being, consciousness, space, and time in dialogue with philosophers, including Kant, Fichte, Hegel, and Spencer. Blavatsky considered her project to be philosophy, but her understanding of what true philosophy entails was different from that of many of her contemporaries. The chapter argues that Blavatsky should be considered a philosopher in her own right, though she was also more than a philosopher.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Oxford Handbook of American and British Women Philosophers in the Nineteenth Century
EditorsAlison Stone , Lydia Moland
Number of pages18
PublisherOxford University Press
Publication date2023
ISBN (Print)9780197558898
ISBN (Electronic)9780197558928
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

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