Auguste Comte and John Stuart Mill on sexual equality; historical, methodological and philosophical issues.

9789004174696

Auguste Comte and John Stuart Mill on sexual equality; historical, methodological and philosophical issues.

Guillin, Vincent.

BRILL

2009

367 pages

$158.00

Hardcover

Studies in the history of political thought; v.1

HQ1237

Using the issue of sexual equality as a focus, Guillin (Philosophy of Life Science, College de France) examines important differences in epistemology, methodology, and theory between Comte and Mill. While sexual equality was a primary concern of both thinkers, Mill's advocacy of women's emancipation is still attractive to modern readers, while Comte's views on the same subject are very outdated. Using biological and physiological arguments, Comte supported women's subjection to men, while Mill used environmental factors to bolster his advocacy of female emancipation. Guillin scrutinizes the key theoretical elements in both thinkers' cases, and shows how their differences over sexual equality eventually led to an acrimonious break between the two men.

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