| Research Abstract |
While striving together for a new philosophy grounded solely on the scientifically corroborated facts, A. Comte and J. S. Mill established, from the viewpoint of gender, totally contrasting social philosophies. Comte, relying upon his belief in the essential difference between men and women, advocated the importance of women's role, particularly in his later thought, in the Religion of Humanity based on love. On the contrary, Mill believed that difference deriving mainly from their different upbringings so as to advocate the liberation of women in a future free society from the restraints conventionally imposed on them. Both of them, however, were seriously influenced, in their formation of ideas concerning gender, by particular women they each were acquainted and fell in love with, that is, Clotilde de Vaux for Comte and Harriet Taylor for Mill.
From the early 20th century onwards there appeared many books about the relationship between Comte and women, written by such writers as Raymu
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ndo Teixeira Mendes, Charles de Rouvre, Emile Corra, Maurice Wolf, Mecca M. Varney, Andre Therive and so on, all naturally centering on Clotilde. Among others Varney's book sums up the subject, by taking up not only Clotilde but also Comte's mother, his sister, his wife and his maidservant, though it reveals a not uncommon weakness, that is, prevailing one-sided man's point of view. As for Mill, F. A. Hayek's study has led to an argument among Mill's scholars, such as Michael St. J. Packe, Ruth Borchard, H. O. Pappe, Josephine Kamm, concerning Harriet Taylor's intellectual influence on Mill. In addition, Jo Ellen Jacobs has recently published The Complete Works of Harriet Taylor Mill and her biography. Her works are remarkable for adopting Harriet's perspective, not John's. We reexamine in this report the place of norms over gender in the social philosophies of Comte and Mill, particularly concentrating upon personal influences of women on them in this respect, with Varney and Jacob's works as chief reference sources, while paying attention to the gender-bias which can slip into the study of the history of ideas. Less
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