Abstract

Theories of perception are at the core of many of the most renowned seventeenth and eighteenth century European philosophical systems. Work on perception is less common in the writings of women philosophers of this period, and yet, like their male peers, early modern women philosophers are responsible for innovative accounts of our perceptual relation with the natural world. With special attention to the work of Margaret Cavendish and Mary Shepherd, this essay explores some notable features of theories of perception developed by women between the mid-seventeenth and the early nineteenth centuries with the aim of elucidating how women’s contributions to this cardinal area of early modern study expanded the diversity of views on offer.