ABSTRACT

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon was disillusioned with the outcomes of revolution in France from 1789 through to 1848. The promises were unfulfilled. For Proudhon, there had been 'struggle and progress,' but 'revolution there was none'. Proudhon could turn to his secular task of organizing human society in order to emancipate humanity from the shackles of authority and power which he saw as the root cause of human misery. As C. Bougle pointed out, Proudhon sought to ensure that 'man had a hold on society through woman, "neither more nor less than a child holds onto its mother by the umbilical cord. Proudhon believed that he had identified a respectful and socially crucial role for women, to the extent that her husband would not be able to socially function without her positive attributes and support. Proudhon's ethic of 'justice' occupied a nether world, floating between God and social reality.