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Ancient
- Gargi of India (5th century BC) – important figure in the Upanishads
- Themistoclea of Delphi (6th century BC) – teacher of Pythagoras
- Diotima of Mantinea (5th century BC) – teacher of Socrates (see Plato’s Symposium)
- Arete of Cyrene (4th century BC) – Cyrenaic School
- Aesara of Lucania (4th or 3rd century BC) – late Pythagorean
- Julia Domna (“The Philosopher Julia”) (3rd century AD) – dialectician
- Hypatia of Alexandria (370-415 AD) (mathematics, science, philosophy) –
- Neo-Platonist
- Makrina (4th century AD) – Christian Neo-Platonist
- Asclepigenia of Athens (4th century AD) – Neo-Platonist
Medieval
- Radegund of the Franks (6th century AD)
- Saint Hilda of Whitby (7th century AD)
- Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179 AD)
- Heloise of Paris (12th century AD).
Early Modern
- Tarquinia Molza (1542-1617) – important writer during Italian Renaissance
- Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia (1618-1680) – important critic of Descartes
- Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle (1623-1673)
- Anne Viscountess Conway (1631-1678)
- Damaris Cudworth, Lady Masham (1659-1708)
- Mary Astell (1666-1731)
- Catherine Trotter Cockburn (1679-1749)
- Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) – key figure in the history
- of feminist thought
- Lady Mary Shepherd (1777-1847)
20th Century – Major Figures
- Emma Goldman (1869-1940)
- Simone Weil (1909-1943)
- Hannah Arendt (1906-1975)
- Ayn Rand (1905-1982)
- Suzanne K. Langer (1895-1985)
- Simone De Beauvoir (1908-1986)
- Iris Murdoch (1919-1999)
- Elizabeth Anscombe (1919-2001)
Contemporary (alphabetical order)
- Patricia Churchland
- Jane English
- Philippa Foot
- Nancy Fraser
- Marilyn Frye
- Trudy Govier
- Marjorie Grene
- Donna Haraway
- Luce Irigaray
- Julia Kristeva
- Helen Longino
- Mary Midgeley
- Martha Nussbaum
- Susan Sherwin
- Judith Jarvis Thomson
- Nancy Tuana
- Karen Warren
- Mary Anne Warren
- Robin West
- Gloria Yamoto
- Iris Young