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Cho, r

Emilie du Chdtelet on the Education of Women

Gabrielle tmilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquise du Chhtelet (1706-1749) was born into a prominent aristocratic family

at the royal court of France. lJnlihe most women of her station, however, after her marriage and the birth of her children,

she devoied much i7 her life to the study of the sciences, with a particular Jocus on physics and mathematics. She is an

author of many bookt ord pamphlets, and is celebrated as the translator of lsaac Newton's Principia Mathematica

into Freich. ti this pasage, fro'm the preJace to her translation of Bernard Mandeville's Fable of the Bees, du ChAtelet reflects on the obst:aclrrlhot *orrn surh as herself face in receiving an education. The draft of the preface was written bitween 1735 and 1739, but it was not published during her lifetime'

feel the full weight of prejudice that excludes

us [women] so univer-

sally from the sciences,

this being one of the ons of this world, which has

astonished me, as there are Sreat whose laws allow us to decide

destiny, but none where we are up to think.

Another observation that one can about this prejudice is that acting

only occupation requiring some

and a trained mind to which are admitted, and it is at the

time the only one that regards its

as infamous.

Let us reflect brieflY on whY for so

one beautiful painting, one good book of

physics, has come from the hands of women. Why do these creatures whose

understanding apPears in all things equal

to that of men, seem, for all that, to be stopped by an invincible force on this side

of a barrier; let someone give me an expla-

nation, if there is one. I leave it to natural-

ists to find a physical explanation, but until

that happens, women will be entitled to

protest against their education. As for me,

I confess that if I were king I would wish to

make this scientific experiment. I would

reform an abuse that cuts out, so to speak,

half of humanity. I would allow women to

share the rights of humanity, and most of

all to those of the mind.

Source: Emilie du Chitelet, 5elected Philosophical

and Scientific Writings (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), PP. a8-a9.

Questions for Analysis

1. What comparison is du ChAtelet mak-

ing between women who are allowed

by law to "decide the destinY" of countries and the fact that women as

a group are not educated?

2. What point does du ChAtelet wish to

make by alluding to the notorious rep-

utation of professionals in the theater,

and actresses especial lY?

3. ln whatway does du ChAtelet show her

confidence in the scientific method as she calls for an "experiment" that would give women the same rights to

education as those enjoYed bY men?

centuries, not one good tragedY,

good poem, one esteemed historY,

safeguarding traditions in the arts (the various acad- of painting). In smaller cities in the countryside,

academies played much the same role, provid-

a way for Enlightenment discussions to spread beyond

capitals

Salons provided an alternative venue for discussion but

informally. They were organized usually by well-

and learned aristocratic women who invited personalities to thelr homes to meet with authors and

their latest works. The prominent role o[ women

the salons from the academies and universi-

Salons brought together men and women of letters with

and food. Rousseau loathed this kind o[ ritual and viewed

salons as a sign of superficiality and vacuity in a privileged

and overcivilized world. Thomas Jefferson thought the

influence of women in salons had put France in a "desper-

ate state." Some o[ the salons reveled in parlor games. Oth-

ers, such as the one organized in Paris by Madame Necker,

the wife o[ the future French reform minister, lay quite

close to the halls of power and was a testing ground for

new policy ideas. Madame Marie-Th€rEse Geoffrin, another

celebrated French saloniZre, became an important patron of

the Encyclopedia and exercised influence in placing schol- ars in academies. Moses Mendelssohn held an open house

for intellectuals in Berlin. Salons in London, Vienna, Rome,ofthe aristocracy fot conversation, debate, drink,

hc(

An alyzing Pr lmary Sources