NOCTUA

La tradizione filosofica dall’antico al moderno

History of Philosophy from the Ancient to the Modern Age

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Autore / Author: Marco Menin

Affiliazione / Author affiliation: Università degli Studi di Torino

Titolo / Title: Tra uguaglianza e differenza: compassione e condizione femminile nel pensiero di Fanny de Beauharnais

Abstract: This article analyses the role of compassion in the two major works of Fanny de Beauharnais (1737–1813). A writer who has been almost completely overlooked by critics until recently, she offers a distinctly feminine interpretation of eighteenth-century thought, closely associated with the social and intellectual world of the literary salons. The two texts under study, published in 1776 and 1811 respectively, are the long philosophical tale Volsidor et Zulménie, conte pour rire, moral si l’on veut, et philosophique en cas de besoin and La Marmotte philosophe ou la Philosophie en domino. The article aims to demonstrate how the theme of compassion, which played a central role in eighteenth-century philosophical debates, enabled Fanny de Beauharnais to position herself in relation to her philosophical role model, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and in response to the ‘egalitarian’ and ‘differentialist’ currents that dominated discussions of gender relations in late eighteenth-century France.

Keywords: Fanny de Beauharnais; Jean-Jacques Rousseau; complementarity between the sexes; compassion; pity; irony.

English title: Between Equality and Difference: Compassion and the Female Condition in the Thought of Fanny de Beauharnais

DOI: 10.14640/NoctuaXII17

Rivista / Journal: Noctua

ISSN: 2284-1180

Anno / Volume: XII

Fascicolo / Issue: 3

Pagine / Pages: 576-610

Ricevuto / Submitted: 27/03/2025

Accettato / Accepted: 23/05/2025

Pubblicato / Published: 05/12/2025

Permalink: https://dx.doi.org/10.14640/NoctuaXII17

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ISSN 2284-1180