A Woman's Philosophy of Woman; or, Woman affranchised.: An answer to Michelet, Proudhon, Girardin, Legouvé, Comte, and other modern innovatorsHéricourt, Madame d'
Philosophy
A Woman's Philosophy of Woman; or, Woman affranchised.: An answer to Michelet, Proudhon, Girardin, Legouvé, Comte, and other modern innovators
Héricourt, Madame d'
Women's rights -- France
Harmony exists in nature, because each being in it follows peaceably the
laws that govern his individuality; it will be the same in humanity, when
universal reason shall comprehend that human order is pre-established in
the co-operation of individual faculties left free in their
manifestations; and that to establish a factitious, wholly imaginary
order; that is, true disorder, is to retard the coming of order, peace
and happiness.
Let us refrain then from all classification of faculties and functions
according to the sexes: besides being false, they will lead us to
cruelty; for we shall oppress those, whether men or women, who are
neither yielding enough to submit to it nor hypocritical enough to appear
to do so; and we shall do this without profit to human destiny, but, on
the contrary, to its detriment.
Here, gentlemen, is a _nominalistic_ theory which I challenge you to
overthrow by sufficient reasons: for, as in the first, I shall have
answers to all your objections.
We now come to our last theory, which is yours in the major and minor
terms, but the opposite in the conclusions.
IV.
All the different parts of the same organism are modified by each other,
and in this manner the functions become mutually modified.
Now, man and woman differ from each other in important organs.
Each of the sexes must therefore differ from the other not only through
the organs that distinguish them, but through the modifications produced
by the presence of these organs.
This, gentleman, is my first syllogism: I know that we shall not contest
this point--it is classical Biology.
Let us investigate anatomically the organic differences to which
sexuality subjects man and woman.
_Nervous System._ The so called nerves of feeling are more fully
developed in woman than in man, those of motion are less developed in the
former than in the latter; the cerebellum is more fully developed in the
head of man than in that of woman; in the latter, the antero-posterior
diameter of the brain preponderates over the bi-lateral, which is greater
in proportion in the masculine sex: it is also observed that the organs
of observation, circumspection, subtleness and philoprogenitiveness are
more prominent in the head of woman than in that of man, in which the
reasoning organs, with those of combativeness and destructiveness
predominate.
_Locomotive System._ Man is larger than woman, he has more compact bones,
and larger and better developed muscles, his thorax is the reverse of
that of woman, in which, the greatest breadth is between the shoulders,
while, with him, it is at the base; the pelvis is larger and broader in
the female than the male sex.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account