François Poulain de la Barre as a women's apologist

Abstract

The article discusses the example of Francois Poulain de la Barre to highlight that not all men obstructed women’s participation in social life and not only women themselves fought for equal treatment. The presentation of Poulain’s views allows us to look at the issue of women in the seventeenth century from a broader perspective, as in the 17th century women were left in the shadow of men and were not treated as equal partners in deliberations. Poulain gave equal opportunities to men and women to determine themselves. Accepting Descartes’ criticism of the ‘experience’ method as being an erroneous way of studying reality, it is shown that the daily experience of the behaviour of both sexes does not reflect the true nature of man and woman. We need to get rid of gender bias. When men and women have the appropriate knowledge and tools they can achieve the same results in every area of life. In addition, it has been shown that in the historical context Poulain can appear as a supporter of women. He made a large contribution to the consideration of their social situation. The philosopher demanded social change. For Poulain, the idea of gender equality inhered in the concept of social equality in general.