Meet Helene Druskowitz

The article introduces the Austrian woman philosopher of Croatian origin, Helene Druskowitz (1856–1918). After providing an overview of her life and publications, we present two main lines of her philosophical thought. The first is her original attempt to create a systematic doctrine that should replace religion: an anti-materialist monistic system in which there is an “Over-Sphere” as an ideal unattainable for everything related to matter. We can approach the “Over-Sphere” only by distancing ourselves from anything material. This presupposes a fundamental social reform: for Druskowitz, it is sexual reform. Women are much more intellectual and spiritual beings than men: by abandoning the patriarchy and giving absolute priority to women, society as a whole would come closer to the ideal Over-Sphere. In its radical form, this would require the complete separation of men from women, leading to the extinction of the race, with women as leaders in death. The second line of her philosophical thought – her position on free will – is less original. According to Druskowitz, the ideal of free will is an oriental idea that was adopted by Christian theology, and from there it spread into philosophy. Druskowitz fully accepts Schopenhauer’s critique of libertarianism, but tries to elaborate on the possibility of responsibility as a mental by product of nature despite the lack of free will