Gabrielle Suchon (December 24, 1632 – March 5, 1703) was a French moral philosopher who participated in debates about the social, political and religious condition of women in the early modern era. Suchon's writing is unique because she specifically addresses women, as opposed to most moral philosophy of the time, whose primary audience was men. She asserts that a woman can live a fulfilling life while unmarried
Early life
Gabrielle Suchon was born in Semur-en-Auxios (Burgundy), France, on December 24, 1632, to Claude Mongin and Claude Suchon. Gabrielle's mother, Claude Mongin, came from a relatively well-off land-owning family. Many of the men in the Mongin family had served as jurists in France. Gabrielle's father came from a line of minor nobles who had historically served as public officials. Claude Suchon served as the King's prosecutor until his death in 1645. Her writings make clear that she was well versed in the holy scriptures and the works of both classic and contemporary philosophers and writers.
From a religious standpoint, Suchon argues that a good Christian strives to better themselves. Women are deprived of the tools needed to better themselves spiritually and socially, specifically through education.
- "Privation is a field so fertile and abundant in miseries that its products are infinite. To speak of all the bitter fruit it forces persons of the sex to taste would be a never-ending task." (Gabrielle Suchon, Traité de la morale et de la politique, Preface to the Treatise)
- "Since freedom is an extremely delicate matter, knowledge is elevated and sublime, and authority is illustrious and striking, and since persons of the sex are denied these three prerogatives to the greatest extent possible, I must defend my case with powerful supports." (Gabrielle Suchon, Traité de la morale et de la politique, Preface to the Treatise)
- "The worth or beauty of language seems to resemble the value of clothing and fashion, which change continuously." (Gabrielle Suchon, Traité de la morale et de la politique, Preface to the Treatise)
- "But since this book is new by its title and unprecedented by its content and subject matter, I sought to make the work incontestable by powerful reasoning rather than by polished discourse, which captivates the mind immediately but does not nourish it fully, which dazzles it momentarily before leaving it forever empty." (Gabrielle Suchon, Traité de la morale et de la politique, Preface to the Treatise)
- "My sole intention in this entire treatise has been to inspire generosity and magnanimity in persons of the sex so that they can protect themselves against servile constraint, stupid ignorance, and base and degrading dependence." (Gabrielle Suchon, Traité de la morale et de la politique, Preface to the Treatise)
- "The inequality among people is very great: some are not destined to repair the ruins of the human race, while others are not strong enough to lead a life of pentinece and prayer." (Gabrielle Suchon, Du célibat volontaire, Foreword)
- "If cloistered persons cherish books that speak of religious life, it is likewise fitting that this treatise on voluntary celibacy belongs specifically to Neutralists. It is to those generous souls-who devote themselves wholly to serving God, helping their neighbor, and improving themselves ever more- that I present this work." (Gabrielle Suchon, Du célibat volontaire, Foreword)
- "And since women, through the bonds of marriage, are subject to their husbands, attached to their children, and preoccupied by their servants and the pursuit of temporal possessions -prickly thorns indeed that cause inconceivable toil and difficulties- I will describe the happiness of free persons, exempt from such troubles." (Gabrielle Suchon, Du célibat volontaire, Foreword)
Further reading
Primary source translation
- A Woman Who Defends All the Persons of Her Sex: Selected Philosophical and Moral Writings, Gabrielle Suchon, translated by Domna C. Stanton and Rebecca M. Wilkin, University of Chicago Press (2010) (includes English translations of Traité de la morale et de la politique and Du célibat volontaire)
Secondary articles
- 'Gabrielle Suchon's Theory of Knowledge' in Journal of Modern Philosophy (Matthews, 2025)
- 'Gabrielle Suchon: De l’éducation des femmes’ in Seventeenth Century French Studies' (Desnain, 2004)
- 'Gabrielle Suchon: Militant Philosophy in Seventeenth-Century France' (Desnain, 2012)
- 'Gabrielle Suchon’s Neutralistes, in Relations and Relationships' (Desnain, 2006)
- 'Gabrielle Suchon: une Ecrivaine engagée pour une vie sans engagement (A Writer Committed To a Life Without Commitment), Sonia Bertolini (1997)