Dr. Karen Detlefsen

Biography

Karen Detlefsen is the Adam Seybert Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is also an Affiliated Faculty member at the Alice Paul Center for Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies. She serves as the founding director of Penn's Project on Philosophy for Young. Her research primarily focuses on early modern philosophy, the history of philosophy of science, and the history of philosophy of education. Detlefsen has published works on a wide range of figures including Astell, Cavendish, Conway, Descartes, Du Châtelet, Hobbes, Leibniz, Malebranche, and Wolff, addressing topics within metaphysics, natural sciences, ethics, and political philosophy. She actively engages with students and teachers in the Philadelphia Public School District, promoting the introduction of philosophy into pre-college classrooms. She has held research grants from various esteemed organizations including the National Science Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies. Her current research focuses on philosopher Emilie Du Châtelet, and she collaborates with Andrew Janiak from Duke University, exploring questions surrounding value theory and the context of philosophy.

Research Interests

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