the French Enlightenment reconsidered in the light of gender studies

Research Project

Project/Area Number	12610038
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	倫理学
Research Institution	Kobe University
Principal Investigator	MUNAKATA Satoshi Kobe University, Faculty of Cross-Cultural Studies, Professor, 国際文化学部, 教授 (40135504)
Project Period (FY)	2000 – 2001
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2001)
Budget Amount *help	¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000) Fiscal Year 2001: ¥600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000) Fiscal Year 2000: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
Keywords	the Enlightenment / Gender Studies
Research Abstract	In the first year the result of preparatory works for the research project, which were to collect historical documents necessary for the project and sort them out, was very satisfactory. I was able to collect sufficient microfilms of printed matters of the period dealing with sex differences, education of girls, manners for women and so on. I then set about analyzing these documents, especially those concerning M^<me> du Chatelet, M^<me> d'Epinay and M^<me> de Condorcet. In the second and final year, besides continuing the research on these distinguished female authors of the time, I examined the thoughts of Rousseau and Condorcet, which made a sharp contrast with each other on the gender issues, as well as those of Diderot and other Encyclopedists from the viewpoint of gender studies. Among the female authors I was able to confirm the uniqueness of M^<me> d'Epinay who accepted the norms of standard femininity but took up an idea of new female education for the liberation of women. Regarding Rousseau I followed his arguments and was able to confirm how he became at the same time a theoretical founder of sex division of labor and an ardent advocate of freedom and equality of man. As regards Condorcet I was able to confirm that he was the most consistent of the adherents of the Revolution in extending its cause to all human beings without leaving women out of consideration. He was the only person to advocate the right of women to get full citizenship in the period of the Revolution. Although I have not yet come to publish the result of these researches, except a paper dealing with the importance of gender studies in our contemporary society, I am in preparation for publishing papers based on the submitted report of this research project.