Amalie J. Hathaway
Amalie Louise John Hathaway (née John; c. 1839 – December 26, 1881) was a German-American philosopher and lecturer, who contributed to the pessimism controversy in Germany.
Life and work
[edit]Amalie Louise John was born around 1839 in Mühlhausen, Province of Saxony, Germany.[1] At the age of 12, she moved with her family to Wisconsin, before settling in Mendota, Illinois. From the age of 15, she ran a country school as a source of income.[2]
Shortly after the University of Michigan first admitted women in 1870, John enrolled as a non-degree student in mathematics, languages, and philosophy . She pursued studies from 1870 to 1871 and 1872 to 1875.[1] She was introduced to philosophy by the lecturer Benjamin Cocker who brought to her attention the works of German metaphysicians and philosophers, including Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer and Von Hartmann, which she could read and understand in their original language.[2]
While pursuing her studies, she met Benjamin Hathaway, a self-taught poet, horticulturalist and nurseryman, who later became her husband. The couple regularly attended The Philosophical Society of Chicago, where Hathaway's contributions lead to her being invited to deliver her own lecture.[2]
Hathaway's one publication "Schopenhauer", an 18-page paper published in Education, was based on a lecture delivered before the Concord School of Philosophy, which was reported on by The New York Times.[3] The lecture received positive press coverage elsewhere, with Hathaway described as "probably by far the best grounded in philosophy among American women" by the Republican.[2] Her other papers (unpublished) were "Immanuel Kant", "The Hegelian Philosophy", "Hartmann", "Pessimism and the Hegelian Philosophy" and "Mental Automatism".[3]
Hathaway died suddenly at her home[1] in Prairie Ronde Township, Michigan, on December 26, 1881,[4] at the age of 41 (or 42).[1]
Legacy
[edit]Hathaway has been described as a "new lost woman philosopher", having been barely given any attention by the "feminist philosophical recovery movement".[3] She has also been described as an unrecognised contributor to the German pessimism controversy.[2] Hathaway has been compared to Agnes Taubert and Olga Plümacher, contemporary women philosophers who also contributed to the controversy.[2]
An article on Hathaway, by Carol Bensick, was included in the Oxford Handbook of American and British Women Philosophers in the Nineteenth Century.[1]
Publications
[edit]- "Schopenhauer". Education. 2: 234–252. September 1881 – July 1882.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Bensick, Carol M. (2024-02-22), Moland, Lydia; Stone, Alison (eds.), "'Side by Side with the Profoundest Thinkers': Amalie Hathaway and the Reception of Schopenhauer in the United States", The Oxford Handbook of American and British Women Philosophers in the Nineteenth Century (1 ed.), Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197558898.013.12, ISBN 978-0-19-755889-8, retrieved 2024-10-18
- ^ a b c d e f Bensick, Carol M. (2018-04-12). "An Unknown American Contribution to the German Pessimism Controversy: Amalie J. Hathaway's 'Schopenhauer'". Blog of the APA. Retrieved 2021-02-06.
- ^ a b c Bensick, Carol Marie (2012-03-15). "A New Lost Woman Philosopher: Amalie John Hathaway". CSW Update Newsletter.
- ^ College Student Lists. Worcester, Massachusetts: American Antiquarian Society.
- 1830s births
- 1881 deaths
- 19th-century American philosophers
- 19th-century American women educators
- 19th-century American women writers
- 19th-century German philosophers
- 19th-century German women educators
- 19th-century German women writers
- American lecturers
- American women philosophers
- German emigrants to the United States
- German women philosophers
- Lecturers
- People from Mühlhausen
- People from the Province of Saxony
- Philosophers from Illinois
- University of Michigan alumni
- Writers from the Province of Saxony
- Writers from Illinois
- People from Mendota, Illinois