Filosofia dei Diritti umani / Philosophy of Human Rights | Charles de Brosses and Maria Gaetana Agnesi: Women’s Learning and Scientific Knowledge in Eighteenth-Century Italy

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Filosofia dei Diritti umani / Philosophy of Human Rights

Charles de Brosses and Maria Gaetana Agnesi: Women’s Learning and Scientific Knowledge in Eighteenth-Century Italy

DOI: 10.53136/97912218283374
Pagine: 43-55
Data di pubblicazione: Dicembre 2025
Editore: Aracne
SSD: IUS/20

Stefano ZEN

This paper aims to investigate the processes of becoming a woman philosopher and scientist in eighteenth-century Italy, by focusing on intellectual world, discourses and educational experiences revolving around Maria Gaetana Agnesi. In the Lettres d’Italie Agnesi is presented as a §§§§literary phenomenon§§§§ whom Charles de Brosses did not hesitate to describe as §§§§una cosa più stupenda que le Dôme de Milan.§§§§ But the talented young lady is fully aware of the contrast between a seriously cultivated commitment to science and the sort of public debate conducted in the salons. Agnesi champions a new and revolutionary approach: women’s right to regain possession of their time and to pursue whatever type of knowledge.