Marie de Gournay

First study devoted to the moral and political philosophy of Marie de Gournay, this book demonstrates how the power and society of the Ancien Regime were subject to profound conceptual upheavals. A philosopher and advocate of "equality", Gournay draws inspiration from skepticism and promotes rationalism.

Marie de Gournay, in a central argument in the pamphlet Égalité des hommes et des femmes [The Equality of Women and Men], offers an interpretation of an argument for equality that she attributes to ‘the School.’ I argue that Gournay is drawing on Aristotle’s Metaphysics to formulate an argument for the equality of women; that she does not temper that argument with claims for the superiority of women, which makes her unique for some time; and that her alleged misrepresentation of (...) her authorities – Aristotle in particular – is itself an interesting and suggestive phenomenon. Moreover, while some of her contemporaries would have agreed that the soul of a person has no sex, Gournay was unusual in arguing that the social implication of this was intellectual equality for women and men, just so long as education should be provided to women as well as men. (shrink)

Cet article étudie l’influence du scepticisme de Montaigne dans l’« Égalité des hommes et des femmes » de Marie de Gournay. Plusieurs points communs entre ces deux auteurs sont analysés : le dépassement du dualisme des sexes dans le cadre d’une critique de l’idée de nature comme hiérarchie ; la condamnation de la présomption de la raison ; un relativisme des sexes, qui contribue à souligner l’iniquité de la domination masculine en Occident.

This paper exposits and defends the ideas of Marie de Gournay (1565-1645), a Parisian essayist and literary critic. Reading her as an early feminist, the author argues that Gournay’s work merits far more attention than it has received, especially her arguments which track the social formation of sex, her conscious opposition to male defamation of and mistreatment of women, and her appreciation of how male misogyny reflects the social privilege of the men who advance it. Gournay’s true genius, however, lies (...) in her argumentative method. Her goal is to get women to break the habit of deferring to men’s opinions about women and women’s experience. To do this, however, Gournay must first authorize her own arguments within a misogynist context and thus deploys the argumentative strategy of first appealing to socially sanctioned authorities to argue her points. Having framed Gournay’s work in these terms, the author considers several of Gournay’s interpretations of canonical figures, replies to contemporary critics of Gournay, and concludes by discussing the inclusion of Gournay’s work in an early modern Western philosophy course. (shrink)