A Feminist Philosopher on the Fringe of History: Ksenija Atanasijevic and Ancient Greek Philosophy

Abstract

Ksenija Atanasijevic’s usually neglected philosophical work and her feminist rereadings of ancient Greek philosophy is examined. I argue that four short Atanasijevic essays written from 1923 to 1927 represent the forerunners of later feminist critique of and interventions into the philosophical canon. I further provide a critical analysis of Atanasijevic’s work during this period, acknowledging the fact that these essays show a more or less fragmented and unsystematic effort by Atanasijevic as an expert in ancient Greek philosophy. Necessary attention is paid to her need to write for a feminist and not only academic audience, so that her feminist engagements with the history of ancient philosophy can be seen as unprecedented in the region. Finally, I provide a comparative analysis of Atanasijevic’s essays devoted to ancient Greek women philosophers, published in 1924 and 1927, and a similar effort by Kathleen Wider, published in 1986, to show similar theses and conclusions developed by these two authors working in different times with different available resources.