Professional Biography
Karen Detlefsen is Professor of Philosophy and Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on early modern philosophy, including the history of philosophy of science, the history and philosophy of education, and women in the history of philosophy. She has published on a wide range of figures, including Astell, Cavendish, Conway, Descartes, Du Châtelet, Hobbes, Leibniz, Malebranche, and Wolff, covering topics in metaphysics, the natural sciences, ethics, and political philosophy. She is also engaged with students and teachers in the School District of Philadelphia, bringing philosophy into pre-college classrooms. She has held grants from the National Science Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Australian Research Council, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada.
