Gabrielle Suchon: Militant philosophy in seventeenth-century France

Gabrielle Suchon's treatises, Traité de la morale et de la politique (1693) and Du Célibat volontaire (1700), call on philosophy and theology to challenge contemporary ideas regarding women's education, autonomy and intellectual abilities. Her reliance on religious and classical authorities may, at first glance, suggest a fairly abstract approach and deferential acceptance of social customs. Yet a closer reading suggests that her aim was not only to challenge the deleterious discourse on women which typifies much of her century but also to encourage women to abandon their harmful acquiescence to their own subjection and to acquire the necessary intellectual and practical skills to combat their oppressors and take their rightful place in society. This article examines the strategies used by Suchon to develop her militant philosophy and achieve her aims.