Teaching as Transcendence: Hypatia, Theano, and the Didactic Potential of Film in the Philosophy Classroom

This article investigates how teaching functioned as a mode of philosophical self-transcendence for women in Greco-Roman antiquity, focusing on Hypatia of Alexandria and Theano of Croton. Drawing on social construct theory (Hacking, 1999; Butler, 1990), feminist epistemology (Code, 1991; Fricker, 2007) and the idea of philosophy as a way of life (Hadot, 2002), the article explores how these thinkers constructed intellectual authority despite systemic exclusion. Using Agora (2009) and Hidden Figures (2016), the article demonstrates how film can serve as a philosophical medium that visualises epistemic injustice and the performative construction of knowledge. A detail lesson series is presented to support the philosophical use of film in secondary and university-level classrooms. Teaching, it is argued, remains a transformative practice for reclaiming epistemic agency and challenging the exclusionary boundaries of philosophy.