{"id":166421,"date":"2024-08-19T08:00:34","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T06:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/ku-har-faaet-sin-foerste-kvindelige-filosofiprofessor\/"},"modified":"2024-08-19T11:19:03","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T09:19:03","slug":"the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\/","title":{"rendered":"The University of Copenhagen gets its first female philosophy professor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

About<\/p>\n

Sabrina Ebbersmeyer was born in 1967 in Hamburg<\/p>\n

Employed by the University of Copenhagen since 2014<\/p>\n

She has previously conducted research at LMU Munich, Universit\u00e4t W\u00fcrzburg and Princeton University<\/p>\n

PhD in philosophy from Hildesheim University in 1999<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

If you’ve ever been at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) during the summer, you will know how quiet it suddenly gets when students and staff have left for their holidays.<\/p>\n

But at the end of a long white corridor in the KUA 2 building, the silence is interrupted by the sound of a printer.<\/p>\n

Sabrina Ebbersmeyer appears from behind a wall. She is currently printing a draft of a new book. It is expected to be published in 2025 and is called Shaping Women Philosophers. Sabrina Ebbersmeyer, who is the publisher, has written the introduction and a chapter on the concept of genius and its relation to philosophy. The remaining chapters were written by philosophers from Australia, Canada, the US, and Europe.<\/p>\n

\u00bbThe book is linked to my research project Archaeology of the Female Intellectual Identity, which is about why women historically have been represented in some areas of philosophy, but excluded from others,\u00ab says Sabrina Ebbersmeyer, who considers herself a historian of philosophy.<\/p>\n

But the book isn’t the only thing she’s been busy with lately. On 21 June, she held her inaugural lecture at the Department of Philosophy.<\/p>\n

A very big day, says Sabrina Ebbersmeyer.<\/p>\n

In January 2024, she was awarded the title of the first female philosophy professor in the whole of the University of Copenhagen\u2019s 545-year history. A fact that is so tragicomical that it has the professor laughing. It speaks for itself, she says.
\n
\n\u00bbI think the title of professor is appropriate, because it signals that I am an internationally recognised researcher. In fact, I have felt like a professor for a long time with my 30 years of experience, and I have had almost the same tasks as a professor has. So even though the title is different, I’m still the same,\u00ab says Sabrina Ebbersmeyer.<\/p>\n

At her inaugural lecture, she packed the hall with a talk on why society needs philosophy in the first place, and about the problematic absence of women in the traditional history of philosophy.<\/p>\n

A non-academic home<\/h3>\n

It was by no means a given that Sabrina Ebbersmeyer, who is from a non-academic home, would one day become a philosophy professor.<\/p>\n

\u00bbIt was really strange for my family that I had to study at university at all. The fact that I then chose philosophy was even harder for them to understand. Pride is not a category that is important to me. But if there is one thing that I’m proud of, it is that I stayed true to my values. That I didn’t waiver, or enter into compromises with my self,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n

It hasn’t been easy financially either, says the professor:<\/p>\n

\u00bbI have considered whether I should do research on something that is more up-to-date, because there are more positions and more money. But I did not do it. I have always stayed in the area that I think is the most important and exciting.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Sabrina Ebbersmeyer initially did her PhD on renaissance philosophy. But when it surprised her time and time again how little had been written about female philosophers through time \u2013 that they were actually written out of history \u2013 she wanted to write them in again.<\/p>\n

She mentions Elisabeth of Bohemia and Birgitte Tott. The former was a German princess from the 1600s who had long exchanges of letters with the founder of modern philosophy Ren\u00e9 Descartes. Here she had many interesting, critical objections to his thoughts. Birgitte Tott is a complete unknown nowadays. This even though she was internationally known in her time in the 1700s, because she was the first to translate the Roman stoic philosopher Seneca into Danish. In this way she helped in the formation of a Danish philosophical language.<\/p>\n

Curiosity, and the interest in philosophy led Sabrina Ebbersmeyer to universities in Berlin, Munich, W\u00fcrzburg and Princeton.
\n
\nShe came to Denmark from Germany in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u00bbAs a child, I was always on summer vacation by the Danish west coast, so I feel a connection to Denmark. And since positions are rarely advertised in my area, I had to go for it,\u00ab says Sabrina Ebbersmeyer with a smile and continues:<\/p>\n

\u00bbI love the flat hierarchy that exists at Danish universities. That we respect each other as human beings and not for the academic titles you may have. But I do miss the academic life at the German universities, where more people are affiliated to the university without being employed there. And where there were often evening events. In Denmark, there is no culture of staying on after working hours.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Immanuel Kant: All thinkers have beards<\/h3>\n

Sabrina Ebbersmeyer is often the only woman at research conferences, university debates, and in the office corridor.<\/p>\n

I do miss the academic life at the German universities<\/p>\n

Professor Sabrina Ebbersmeyer<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

She was once invited to a debate organised by students, where she had to debate with her colleagues S\u00f8ren Gosvig and Klemens Kappel. The two colleagues were situated within the continental and analytical traditions of philosophy, whereas Sabrina Ebbersmeyer is completely outside that dichotomy.<\/p>\n

\u00bbJust for a bit of fun, I had put a moustache on for the debate. Both to point to the gender imbalance that almost always occurs in debates like this, but which we rarely talk about. But also because Kant once said something along the lines of: \u2018if women really had something serious to say, they might just as well have a beard\u2019.\u00ab<\/p>\n

In 2014, Sabrina Ebbersmeyer became the first female associate professor of philosophy. And in January 2024, she became the first female philosophy professor at UCPH.<\/p>\n

In the ten years she has been employed, there have been no positive trends in terms of gender balance at the Department of Philosophy, where three full-time positions have been abolished. Sabrina Ebbersmeyer is the last person to be hired at the Department of Philosophy.<\/p>\n

\u00bbIt’s a bit exhausting being the only woman in a ward. There is a lot you have to deal with subconsciously, like how you communicate and navigate between social codes. This would probably also be the case if you were the only man,\u00ab she says, and emphasizes at the same time that she is very fond of her male colleagues:<\/p>\n

\u00bbWe are good at working together, and we support each other. But I do prefer to have both male and female colleagues.\u00ab
\n<\/p>\n

If you are a female student, stay!<\/h3>\n

Among the new bachelor’s students on the philosophy programme, 55 per cent are men and 45 per cent are women, but after that the women drop out. At the master’s degree level, 69 per cent are men and 31 per cent are women.<\/p>\n

According to Sabrina Ebbersmeyer, when so many women leave philosophy after three years, it is not because of the subject of philosophy per se, but due to academic circumstances.<\/p>\n

The professor refers, for example, to the competitive mentality that prevails within the philosophy discipline. And many women, from bachelor’s students to postdocs, have expressed their unease about it for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u00bbIn this discipline, not everyone is comfortable with showing that your own arguments are right, and that others\u2019 arguments are wrong. The students want to feel respected, and they want to invite others to think along with them rather than against them,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n

Academic frameworks, historically designed for men’s needs, are changing<\/p>\n

Professor Sabrina Ebbersmeyer<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Discussion and argumentation are legitimate parts of philosophy of course, the professor argues. But she also believes that you can philosophize by working together to achieve insights.<\/p>\n

The professor reckons that the study and working environment at the Department of Philosophy needs to change.<\/p>\n

And that transformation has already begun:<\/p>\n

\u00bbWhen I started at UCPH, I talked to my colleagues about gender issues in philosophy. We drew up a gender policy and set up a workshop entitled \u2018The Gender Agenda in Academic Philosophy\u2019.\u00ab<\/p>\n

\u00bbI have also set up a mentor programme for female students and PhDs to signal that there is space for them, and that they will thrive on the philosophy programme.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Sabrina Ebbersmeyer emphasizes that it is also necessary to make the composition of the teaching staff more diverse so that more students can reflect themselves in their teaching staff.<\/p>\n

Finally, the professor also has one piece of advice for female students who dream of an academic career:<\/p>\n

\u00bbIf you love philosophy, stay! Academic frameworks, historically designed for men’s needs, are changing. Philosophy needs every single woman to come in and change the frameworks so that they also suit their needs.\u00ab<\/p>\n

When asked how long she thinks it should be before she gets a female professor colleague, the professor laughs:<\/p>\n

\u00bbI hope it doesn’t take that long. We should not certainly not use the past and the past 545 years as a yardstick\u00ab.<\/p>\n

 
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sabrina Ebbersmeyer is the first female philosophy professor in the University of Copenhagen’s 545-year history. She looks at the skewed gender balance in the field with both seriousness and humour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":165862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","expression-portrait_article"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe University of Copenhagen gets its first female philosophy professor \u2014 University Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sabrina Ebbersmeyer is the first female philosophy professor in the University of Copenhagen's 545-year history. She looks at the skewed gender balance in the field with both seriousness and humour.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The University of Copenhagen gets its first female philosophy professor \u2014 University Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sabrina Ebbersmeyer is the first female philosophy professor in the University of Copenhagen's 545-year history. She looks at the skewed gender balance in the field with both seriousness and humour.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uniavis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-08-19T06:00:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-19T09:19:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1709\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emma Naldal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Uniavisen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Uniavisen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emma Naldal\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Emma Naldal\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cef7a94e135b966b6f01fae181ab7810\"},\"headline\":\"The University of Copenhagen gets its first female philosophy professor\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-08-19T06:00:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-19T09:19:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1503,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/sabrina_med_moustache.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Science\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\\\/\",\"name\":\"The University of Copenhagen gets its first female philosophy professor \u2014 University Post\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/sabrina_med_moustache.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-08-19T06:00:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-19T09:19:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cef7a94e135b966b6f01fae181ab7810\"},\"description\":\"Sabrina Ebbersmeyer is the first female philosophy professor in the University of Copenhagen's 545-year history. She looks at the skewed gender balance in the field with both seriousness and humour.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/sabrina_med_moustache.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/07\\\/sabrina_med_moustache.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1709},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The University of Copenhagen gets its first female philosophy professor\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/\",\"name\":\"University Post\",\"description\":\"Independent of management\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cef7a94e135b966b6f01fae181ab7810\",\"name\":\"Emma Naldal\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5655a78061a6807ab114a13dbfe0bc180d4256e5ea4352a5f95581c8760d8e27?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5655a78061a6807ab114a13dbfe0bc180d4256e5ea4352a5f95581c8760d8e27?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5655a78061a6807ab114a13dbfe0bc180d4256e5ea4352a5f95581c8760d8e27?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Emma Naldal\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/author\\\/emma_naldal\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The University of Copenhagen gets its first female philosophy professor \u2014 University Post","description":"Sabrina Ebbersmeyer is the first female philosophy professor in the University of Copenhagen's 545-year history. She looks at the skewed gender balance in the field with both seriousness and humour.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The University of Copenhagen gets its first female philosophy professor \u2014 University Post","og_description":"Sabrina Ebbersmeyer is the first female philosophy professor in the University of Copenhagen's 545-year history. She looks at the skewed gender balance in the field with both seriousness and humour.","og_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\/","og_site_name":"University Post","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uniavis","article_published_time":"2024-08-19T06:00:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-08-19T09:19:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1709,"url":"http:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Emma Naldal","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache.jpg","twitter_creator":"@Uniavisen","twitter_site":"@Uniavisen","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Emma Naldal","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\/"},"author":{"name":"Emma Naldal","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#\/schema\/person\/cef7a94e135b966b6f01fae181ab7810"},"headline":"The University of Copenhagen gets its first female philosophy professor","datePublished":"2024-08-19T06:00:34+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-19T09:19:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\/"},"wordCount":1503,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache.jpg","articleSection":["Science"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\/","url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\/","name":"The University of Copenhagen gets its first female philosophy professor \u2014 University Post","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache.jpg","datePublished":"2024-08-19T06:00:34+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-19T09:19:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#\/schema\/person\/cef7a94e135b966b6f01fae181ab7810"},"description":"Sabrina Ebbersmeyer is the first female philosophy professor in the University of Copenhagen's 545-year history. She looks at the skewed gender balance in the field with both seriousness and humour.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache.jpg","width":2560,"height":1709},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/the-university-of-copenhagen-gets-its-first-female-philosophy-professor\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The University of Copenhagen gets its first female philosophy professor"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/","name":"University Post","description":"Independent of management","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#\/schema\/person\/cef7a94e135b966b6f01fae181ab7810","name":"Emma Naldal","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5655a78061a6807ab114a13dbfe0bc180d4256e5ea4352a5f95581c8760d8e27?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5655a78061a6807ab114a13dbfe0bc180d4256e5ea4352a5f95581c8760d8e27?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5655a78061a6807ab114a13dbfe0bc180d4256e5ea4352a5f95581c8760d8e27?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Emma Naldal"},"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/author\/emma_naldal\/"}]}},"advancedCustomFields":{"expression":{"term_id":14,"name":"Portrait Article","slug":"portrait_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":14,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":803,"filter":"raw"},"enable_comments":true,"align_content":"aligncenter","feature_color":"#a54c18","article_updated":"","layout_group":[{"acf_fc_layout":"Headline","use_post_title":true,"headline":"","style":"default","highlighted_words":"","text_size":"small"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Image","image":{"ID":165861,"id":165861,"title":"Sabrina_med_moustache","filename":"sabrina_med_moustache.jpg","filesize":273097,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ku-har-faaet-sin-foerste-kvindelige-filosofiprofessor\/sabrina_med_moustache\/","alt":"","author":"5","description":"","caption":"","name":"sabrina_med_moustache","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":165591,"date":"2024-07-31 12:10:42","modified":"2024-07-31 12:11:46","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2560,"height":1709,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache-480x320.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":320,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache-768x513.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":513,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache-1280x855.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":855,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache-1536x1025.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1025,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache-2048x1367.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1367,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache-290x194.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":194,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache-700x467.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":467,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache-990x661.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":661}},"style":"extended","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"Philosophers have beards, Immanuel Kant said. And for 545 years the University of Copenhagen has agreed with him. Sabrina Ebbersmeyer, newly appointed philosophy professor, does not shy away from whimsical happenings in the service of gender equality. With the blessing of Sabrina Ebbersmeyer, we manipulated the photo."},{"acf_fc_layout":"Standfirst","subject":"One of a kind","text":"This is a story about what will follow","use_post_excerpt":true},{"acf_fc_layout":"Byline","is_author":true,"contributors":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<div class=\"factbox\">\n<p class=\"factbox-header feature-color\">About<\/p>\n<p>Sabrina Ebbersmeyer was born in 1967 in Hamburg<\/p>\n<p>Employed by the University of Copenhagen since 2014<\/p>\n<p>She has previously conducted research at LMU Munich, Universit\u00e4t W\u00fcrzburg and Princeton University<\/p>\n<p>PhD in philosophy from Hildesheim University in 1999<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>If you’ve ever been at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) during the summer, you will know how quiet it suddenly gets when students and staff have left for their holidays.<\/p>\n<p>But at the end of a long white corridor in the KUA 2 building, the silence is interrupted by the sound of a printer.<\/p>\n<p>Sabrina Ebbersmeyer appears from behind a wall. She is currently printing a draft of a new book. It is expected to be published in 2025 and is called Shaping Women Philosophers. Sabrina Ebbersmeyer, who is the publisher, has written the introduction and a chapter on the concept of genius and its relation to philosophy. The remaining chapters were written by philosophers from Australia, Canada, the US, and Europe.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThe book is linked to my research project Archaeology of the Female Intellectual Identity, which is about why women historically have been represented in some areas of philosophy, but excluded from others,\u00ab says Sabrina Ebbersmeyer, who considers herself a historian of philosophy.<\/p>\n<p>But the book isn’t the only thing she’s been busy with lately. On 21 June, she held her inaugural lecture at the Department of Philosophy.<\/p>\n<p>A very big day, says Sabrina Ebbersmeyer.<\/p>\n<p>In January 2024, she was awarded the title of the first female philosophy professor in the whole of the University of Copenhagen\u2019s 545-year history. A fact that is so tragicomical that it has the professor laughing. It speaks for itself, she says.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>\u00bbI think the title of professor is appropriate, because it signals that I am an internationally recognised researcher. In fact, I have felt like a professor for a long time with my 30 years of experience, and I have had almost the same tasks as a professor has. So even though the title is different, I’m still the same,\u00ab says Sabrina Ebbersmeyer.<\/p>\n<p>At her inaugural lecture, she packed the hall with a talk on why society needs philosophy in the first place, and about the problematic absence of women in the traditional history of philosophy.<\/p>\n<h3>A non-academic home<\/h3>\n<p>It was by no means a given that Sabrina Ebbersmeyer, who is from a non-academic home, would one day become a philosophy professor.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt was really strange for my family that I had to study at university at all. The fact that I then chose philosophy was even harder for them to understand. Pride is not a category that is important to me. But if there is one thing that I’m proud of, it is that I stayed true to my values. That I didn’t waiver, or enter into compromises with my self,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n<p>It hasn’t been easy financially either, says the professor:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbI have considered whether I should do research on something that is more up-to-date, because there are more positions and more money. But I did not do it. I have always stayed in the area that I think is the most important and exciting.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>Sabrina Ebbersmeyer initially did her PhD on renaissance philosophy. But when it surprised her time and time again how little had been written about female philosophers through time \u2013 that they were actually written out of history \u2013 she wanted to write them in again.<\/p>\n<p>She mentions Elisabeth of Bohemia and Birgitte Tott. The former was a German princess from the 1600s who had long exchanges of letters with the founder of modern philosophy Ren\u00e9 Descartes. Here she had many interesting, critical objections to his thoughts. Birgitte Tott is a complete unknown nowadays. This even though she was internationally known in her time in the 1700s, because she was the first to translate the Roman stoic philosopher Seneca into Danish. In this way she helped in the formation of a Danish philosophical language.<\/p>\n<p>Curiosity, and the interest in philosophy led Sabrina Ebbersmeyer to universities in Berlin, Munich, W\u00fcrzburg and Princeton.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Quote","quote":"It's a bit exhausting being the only woman in a department","quotee":"Professor Sabrina Ebbersmeyer","style":"extended"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>She came to Denmark from Germany in 2014.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbAs a child, I was always on summer vacation by the Danish west coast, so I feel a connection to Denmark. And since positions are rarely advertised in my area, I had to go for it,\u00ab says Sabrina Ebbersmeyer with a smile and continues:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbI love the flat hierarchy that exists at Danish universities. That we respect each other as human beings and not for the academic titles you may have. But I do miss the academic life at the German universities, where more people are affiliated to the university without being employed there. And where there were often evening events. In Denmark, there is no culture of staying on after working hours.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h3>Immanuel Kant: All thinkers have beards<\/h3>\n<p>Sabrina Ebbersmeyer is often the only woman at research conferences, university debates, and in the office corridor.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I do miss the academic life at the German universities<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">Professor Sabrina Ebbersmeyer<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>She was once invited to a debate organised by students, where she had to debate with her colleagues S\u00f8ren Gosvig and Klemens Kappel. The two colleagues were situated within the continental and analytical traditions of philosophy, whereas Sabrina Ebbersmeyer is completely outside that dichotomy.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbJust for a bit of fun, I had put a moustache on for the debate. Both to point to the gender imbalance that almost always occurs in debates like this, but which we rarely talk about. But also because Kant once said something along the lines of: \u2018if women really had something serious to say, they might just as well have a beard\u2019.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>In 2014, Sabrina Ebbersmeyer became the first female associate professor of philosophy. And in January 2024, she became the first female philosophy professor at UCPH.<\/p>\n<p>In the ten years she has been employed, there have been no positive trends in terms of gender balance at the Department of Philosophy, where three full-time positions have been abolished. Sabrina Ebbersmeyer is the last person to be hired at the Department of Philosophy.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt’s a bit exhausting being the only woman in a ward. There is a lot you have to deal with subconsciously, like how you communicate and navigate between social codes. This would probably also be the case if you were the only man,\u00ab she says, and emphasizes at the same time that she is very fond of her male colleagues:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe are good at working together, and we support each other. But I do prefer to have both male and female colleagues.\u00ab<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Image","image":{"ID":165592,"id":165592,"title":"_DSC7139","filename":"dsc7139-scaled.jpg","filesize":652627,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/dsc7139-scaled.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ku-har-faaet-sin-foerste-kvindelige-filosofiprofessor\/_dsc7139\/","alt":"","author":"98","description":"","caption":"Professor Sabrina Ebbersmeyer er glad for sin arbejdsplads, men hun mener, at studie- og arbejdsmilj\u00f8et p\u00e5 Filosofi tr\u00e6nger til forandring.","name":"_dsc7139","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":165591,"date":"2024-07-09 09:05:49","modified":"2024-07-15 08:40:20","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2560,"height":1709,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/dsc7139-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/dsc7139-480x320.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":320,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/dsc7139-768x513.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":513,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/dsc7139-1280x855.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":855,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/dsc7139-1536x1025.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1025,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/dsc7139-2048x1367.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1367,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/dsc7139-290x194.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":194,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/dsc7139-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/dsc7139-700x467.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":467,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/dsc7139-990x661.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":661}},"style":"extended","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"Sabrina Ebbersmeyer without a photoshopped moustache."},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<h3>If you are a female student, stay!<\/h3>\n<p>Among the new bachelor’s students on the philosophy programme, 55 per cent are men and 45 per cent are women, but after that the women drop out. At the master’s degree level, 69 per cent are men and 31 per cent are women.<\/p>\n<p>According to Sabrina Ebbersmeyer, when so many women leave philosophy after three years, it is not because of the subject of philosophy per se, but due to academic circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>The professor refers, for example, to the competitive mentality that prevails within the philosophy discipline. And many women, from bachelor’s students to postdocs, have expressed their unease about it for a long time.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIn this discipline, not everyone is comfortable with showing that your own arguments are right, and that others\u2019 arguments are wrong. The students want to feel respected, and they want to invite others to think along with them rather than against them,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Academic frameworks, historically designed for men’s needs, are changing<\/p>\n<p class=\"quotee\">Professor Sabrina Ebbersmeyer<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Discussion and argumentation are legitimate parts of philosophy of course, the professor argues. But she also believes that you can philosophize by working together to achieve insights.<\/p>\n<p>The professor reckons that the study and working environment at the Department of Philosophy needs to change.<\/p>\n<p>And that transformation has already begun:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWhen I started at UCPH, I talked to my colleagues about gender issues in philosophy. We drew up a gender policy and set up a workshop entitled \u2018The Gender Agenda in Academic Philosophy\u2019.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbI have also set up a mentor programme for female students and PhDs to signal that there is space for them, and that they will thrive on the philosophy programme.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>Sabrina Ebbersmeyer emphasizes that it is also necessary to make the composition of the teaching staff more diverse so that more students can reflect themselves in their teaching staff.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the professor also has one piece of advice for female students who dream of an academic career:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIf you love philosophy, stay! Academic frameworks, historically designed for men’s needs, are changing. Philosophy needs every single woman to come in and change the frameworks so that they also suit their needs.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>When asked how long she thinks it should be before she gets a female professor colleague, the professor laughs:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbI hope it doesn’t take that long. We should not certainly not use the past and the past 545 years as a yardstick\u00ab.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Newsletter","lang_select":"en","identifier":"Newsletter","headline":"Get an email with our top stories","button_text":"Sign up here","class":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"","hand_picked_posts":false,"references":false,"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":"4","style":"default"}]},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":46,"name":"Science","slug":"science","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":46,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":832,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[],"post_format":[],"expression":[{"term_id":14,"name":"Portrait Article","slug":"portrait_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":14,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":803,"filter":"raw"}],"translation_priority":[{"term_id":5468,"name":"Optional","slug":"optional-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5468,"taxonomy":"translation_priority","description":"","parent":0,"count":674,"filter":"raw"}]},"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/sabrina_med_moustache-1280x855.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166421"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166447,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166421\/revisions\/166447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}