TY - BOOK ID - 77870209 TI - Three Cartesian feminist treatises AU - Poulain de La Barre, François AU - Maistre Welch, Marcelle. AU - Bosley, Vivien Elizabeth PY - 2002 SN - 1281125997 9786611125998 0226676552 9780226676555 9780226676531 0226676536 0226676544 9780226676548 PB - Chicago : University of Chicago Press, DB - UniCat KW - Women KW - Equality KW - Women's rights KW - Egalitarianism KW - Inequality KW - Social equality KW - Social inequality KW - Political science KW - Sociology KW - Democracy KW - Liberty KW - Education KW - Poulain de la Barre, François, KW - Views on women. KW - francois poullain de la barre, radical feminism, feminist theory, gender, woman question, women, descartes, inequality, prejudice, bias, discrimination, translation, equality of the two sexes, education ladies, excellence men, femininity, womens rights, social norms, caretaking, virtue, separate spheres, classics, france, morality. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:77870209 AB - 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 1670's, 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. ER -