Women in the French Enlightenment : From Femme Savante to Mother of the Family

This volume deals with philosophical, scientific, and ideological images of women during the French Enlightenment, examining their emergence in the reflections of the philosophes, in Catholic morality, in biological and medical knowledge, in novels, in periodicals, and in the law. Alongside the appeals for social and intellectual emancipation advanced by the femmes savants, typical of the eighteenth-century salons, a new conception pertaining to women's social role related to the affirmation of the bourgeoisie and of its model of the family took place. Codified in a more complex and organized way within the Rousseauian philosophy, this new conception spread in various cultural debates, gaining a real hegemony: women were meant to be excluded from any public" space, devoid of cultural aspirations, and only devoted to satisfying the needs of the family. The book adopts a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and synthetic approach and at the same time highlights what we can call the "roots" of some fundamental ways of considering women, still active in present-day society. It also addresses researchers in the history of philosophy, sociology, literature, and gender studies, and readers with an interest in women's issues"--

Author: Anna Maria Marchini

Publisher: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group

Publication Date: May 27, 2024

Number of Pages: NA pages

Language: English

Binding: Paperback

ISBN-10: 1032110716

ISBN-13: 9781032110714