Conclusion

Abstract

Abstract Taking an anecdote related by Denis Diderot as a starting point, the conclusion reflects on the place of the “personal” in moralist writing. Moralist writing articulates a relationship between the particular and the general, between the individual and the social; its ostensibly descriptive approach is laced with analysis and ethical reflection. It provides women thinkers, often excluded from the formal institutions of knowledge, with a platform for engaging major philosophical topics. If there is a unifying thread in these women’s analyses of the self, of friendship, of happiness, of marriage, of age, of the female condition, it is the recurring claim of personal integrity, autonomy, and liberty. Moralist writing, through its form and content, supports women in that search.