Browsing by Author "Berges, Sandrine"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8

Open Access
Family, gender, and progress: Sophie de Grouchy and her exclusion in the publication of condorcet’s sketch of human Progress
(University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018) Berges, Sandrine
I examine some of the evidence for collaboration between Condorcet and Sophie de Grouchy on the writing of the Sketch of Human Progress, but also uncover the ways in which the publication and reception of that text worked to exclude a woman who was a philosopher in her own right from a work she clearly contributed to. I show that at least one passage that was added in the 1795 edition makes the work philosophically more interesting.
Open Access
Introduction
(Routledge, 2018) Berges, Sandrine; Siani, A. L.; Berges, Sandrine; Siani, A. L.
Open Access
Introduction
(Oxford Scholarship Online, 2016) Berges, Sandrine; Coffee, A. M. S. J.; Berges, Sandrine; Coffee, A. M. S. J.
In the Introduction to this volume, the authors attempt to reflect on the place of Wollstonecraft studies in the recovery project through the attempts to (re-) introduce texts by women in academic philosophy; to present a brief biography of Mary Wollstonecraft, and to introduce each chapter in the volume. This introduction also presents aspects of Wollstonecraft scholarship: a study of her intellectual background, from her possible acquaintance with ancient texts to her engagement with eighteenth-century political philosophy; and her social and political thought, showing that it goes beyond feminism and deals with questions of children and animal rights, property rights and slavery. The chapter concludes with a more detailed look at her specifically republican outlook on freedom.
Open Access
Lucretia and the impossibility of female republicanism in Margaret Cavendish's sociable letters
(Blackwell Publishing, 2018) Berges, Sandrine
Margaret Cavendish is known for her personal allegiance to monarchy in England. This is reflected in her writings; as Hobbes did, she tended to criticize severely any attempt at rebellion and did not think England could become a republic. Yet it seems that Cavendish did have sympathy with some republican values, in particular, as Lisa Walters has argued, with the republican concept of freedom as nondomination. How can we explain this apparent inconsistency? I believe that the answer lies in a lack of fit between the republican theories that were available to her and the values she accepted and according to which she was expected to live her life.
Open Access
Margaret cavendish on women’s autonomy, political skepticism, and republican values 1
(Routledge, 2018) Berges, Sandrine; Berges, Sandrine; Siani, A. L.
Open Access
Moral development
(Elsevier, 2012) Berges, Sandrine; Chadwick, R.
This article introduces the concepts of moral development, developmental psychology, and character development. It begins by providing an overview of the history of these concepts, focusing on ancient philosophy and the philosophy of the Enlightenment. It then discusses in more detail a leading theory of moral development and objections that have been made against it. It concludes with some suggestions regarding how we might expect theories of moral development to evolve from those objections.
Open Access
Olympe de Gouges versus Rousseau: happiness, primitive societies, and the theater
(Cambridge University Press, 2020) Berges, Sandrine
In Le Bonheur Primitif (1789), Olympe de Gouges takes on Rousseau's account of the evolution of human society in his first two Discourses, and she argues that primitive human beings were not only happy, but also capable of virtue. I argue that in that text, Gouges offers a contribution to the eighteenth-century debate on human progress that is distinct from Rousseau's in that it takes seriously the contribution of women and families to human happiness and progress. I show how the concept of emulation plays an important role in Gouges's analysis, both in her account of primitive societies and of the theater, and argue that she uses it to bridge the gap between primitive happiness and future progress.
Open Access
Wet-Nursing and political participation
(Oxford Scholarship Online, 2016) Berges, Sandrine; Berges, Sandrine; Coffee, A. M. S. J.
Caring duties, which fall particularly to women, are not always compatible with the degree of public life that republican citizenship requires. This is sometimes held as a feminist objection to republicanism. This chapter addresses this objection by focusing on the case of the mothering of infants and wet-nursing in the writings of Wollstonecraft and de Grouchy, two feminist writers of the Enlightenment period. It argues that both writers believe that mothering is central to the development of republican values and that compassion enables the growth of republican sentiments. But for Wollstonecraft this is a double-edged sword. For women to earn the status of citizens they must, if they are mothers, perform all duties attending to motherhood, including breastfeeding their children. Unfortunately, it is those duties that conflict with republican citizenship. A comparison with de Grouchy’s own views on wet-nursing will point to a possible solution.