Phénoménologie de la femme philosophe 'agréée'. Émilie Du Châtelet et Laura Bassi

The aim of this study is to provide an overview of the emergence, in the 1730s, of the figure of the ‘accredited’ woman philosopher, by examining the exogenous factors and endogenous impulses that enabled two pivotal figures of the first half of the eighteenth century, Émilie Du Châtelet (1706-1749) and Laura Bassi (1711-1778), to be publicly recognised as philosophers. The article adopts an approach that is both analytical and comparative, juxtaposing not only the biographies (education and early philosophical training) but also some of the theories of these two scholars. In fact, the overlap of their interests allows the author to draw a picture of correspondences and discordances concerning their method and certain aspects of their epistemological conceptions.