The Department of Philosophy sincerely enjoyed hosting Professor Alejandro Naranjo Sandoval on Thursday, October 30, 2025 (thanks to Benny & May Chin and Elaine Plaisance!) Prof. Sandoval presented his talk, "Natural Destiny in Poulain's Account of Gender Inequality" to a packed room of SFSU students, faculty and staff.
Abstract: Whence come gender and gender inequality — nature or society? Poulain de la Barre (1647-1723) is often thought to be an early proponent of the view that gender and gender inequality is the result of social factors, as opposed to innate physical or mental differences. But, I argue, his views are more complicated than that. For Poulain, some physical differences between the sexes play an irreducible role in bringing about gender difference. They do so sometimes directly, but most commonly indirectly, in a way that is mediated by custom. What is distinctive and innovative about Poulain, then, is his nuanced views about how small physical differences ultimately lead to immense social ones, in the presence of certain conditions. Along the way, I discuss whether Poulain can be said to have recognized the gender/sex distinction.
