Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Three Cartesian Feminist Treatises

Three Cartesian Feminist Treatises

Poullain de la Barre, François
Welch, Marcelle Maistre
Bosley, Vivien

Paperback

Series: Other Voice in Early Modern Europe

Women's Studies

ISBN10: 0226676544
ISBN13: 9780226676548
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: Dec 1 2002
Pages: 366
Weight: 1.09
Height: 0.78 Width: 6.08 Depth: 9.14
Language: English
One of the most radical feminist theorists in Europe before the nineteenth century, François Poullain de la Barre (1647-1723) was a man way ahead of his time. Applying Cartesian principles to the Woman Question, Poullain demonstrated by rational deduction that the supposedly self-evident inequality of the sexes was nothing more than unfounded prejudice.

Poullain published three books (anonymously) on this topic in the 1670s, all of which are included in English translation in this volume. In On the Equality of the Two Sexes he argued that the supposedly natural inferiority of women was culturally produced. To help women recognize and combat this prejudice, Poullain advocated a modern, enlightened feminine education in On the Education of Ladies. Finally, since his contemporaries largely ignored Poullain's writings, he offered a rebuttal to his own arguments in On the Excellence of Men-a rebuttal that he promptly countered, strengthening his original positions.

A truly modern feminist, Poullain laid the intellectual groundwork for the women's liberation movement centuries before it happened.

Also in

Women's Studies

View All