Foregrounding Forgotten Foundations — A Theological Virtue Proto-Feminist Reading of Gabrielle Suchon (1632–1703) and Mary Astell (1666–1731)

Abstract

In this thesis, I compare the philosophies of the French proto-feminist Gabrielle Suchon and the English proto-feminist Mary Astell, identifying shared arguments and building what I coin a Theological Virtue Proto-feminist reading of their works, contending that they both argue for the equality, education and liberation of women (i.e., Proto-feminism) in a particular way which combines Theological metaphysics with a theological-philosophical account of the nature and role of Virtue in the good life. Responding to a gap in the literature on these philosophers, which either (dis)misses or problematises their theological commitments, I investigate the role of theology in their diagnosis of how male authority and social conventions actively produce women’s perceived inferiority and facilitate their intellectual exclusion. The importance of the interplay between theology and philosophy in their works will be built up in three steps. First, I establish that Suchon’s and Astell’s proto-feminism rests on a radical equalitarian account of women’s nature, capacities, and oppression, grounded in their Christian ontology, theological-philosophical epistemology, and Christian virtue ethics. Second, building on this established equality, I present their analysis of the social and political influences and power structures which produce sexual differences and fashion women as inferior. Lastly, I construct the nature and relevance of a Theological Virtue Proto-Feminist reading and discuss their proposals, in which they theorise liberation. I argue that if we take these Theological Virtue foundations of their proto-feminism seriously, we can better situate both philosophers within the history of philosophy and acquire a new understanding of Suchon’s and Astell’s theorisation of the possibilities of women’s intellectual and moral liberation, rooted in a theological-philosophical self-understanding and rightful self-esteem.