Technically, Marie le Jars de Gournay already has a place on the syllabus so my argument is going to be structured a little differently. That is, while we read The Ladies’ Complaint, it was not formally discussed in class. However, I do agree with the placement of Gournay on the syllabus because it is in the mix with some of the other female philosophers that we discussed. Additionally, I think Gournay would pair well with Sor Juana de la Cruz, as both are highly interested in the field of education and equality of the sexes. Where they differ, though, is that Sor Juana argues that not everyone is deserving of education or has the ability to teach, whereas Gournay doesn’t necessarily make that distinction.
Further, Gournay also has views on true friendship and how it entails the melding of two souls, of which she demonstrates with a relation to her own friendship with Montaigne. We have not quite talked about accounts of friendship in a philosophical sense, yet it is often a topic of discussion, especially in the field of ethics, and so I think it would be entertaining to engage in. Gournay also argues how men and women are “one” as they share a single, rational soul, which provides a further argument for the equality of the sexes and relates to a common theme of “the soul’s” place in philosophy. On her account, we could say that men and women are one thing identical with itself, as opposed to two different things that merely resemble each other. It could be the case that they share an “essential form” which makes them, in essence, the same. But, what is an “essential form”? This is something we could explore. She also goes on to say that this fact makes men and women of the same virtue, which I think has a lot of potential for discussion as well.
Overall, while The Ladies’ Complaint is shorter than The Equality of Men and Women and both are written by Marie le Jars de Gournay, I would argue that we should replace the former with the latter as it contains much more philosophical substance. Not to mention, although I am a senior graduating, I have seldom talked about equality of the sexes through a philosophical sense in a class. At the same rate, we often never get to read works by female philosophers, even though we now know of so many influential women working on some of the same theories that male philosophers were. It was refreshing to dive a little into it in this course, although I think there is more that could be said about it, especially given the shared common themes of previously discussed topics, such as the rational soul. In a male-dominated world and an even more historically male-dominated area of study, my argument for Marie le Jars de Gournay’s place on the syllabus is symmetrical to my argument for women’s place in philosophy.
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introduction
biography
philosophical position
comparison with Sor Juana
closing argument
bibliography