The philosophy in the boudoir
The philosophy in the boudoir or The vicious teachers ( French original title: La Philosophie dans le boudoir , ou Les Instituteurs immoraux ) is a work by the writer Marquis de Sade published in 1795 . The subtitle is “intended for the education of young women”.
The publication, written as “educational reading”, consists of a preface “to the libertines ”, seven dialogues and an excursus following the fifth dialogue entitled “French, another effort if you want to be a Republican ”.
In de Sade's typical alternation between sexual debauchery and philosophical treatises , sensual pleasure is presented as the motor of intellectual confrontation with the world, and sexuality as an instinctual, symbiotic complement of the mind.
content
At the beginning of his writing, the author recommends that mothers tell their daughters to read his book.
The free-spirited Madame de Saint-Ange and a friend of her brother, the Libertin Dolmancé, take on the sex education of the 15-year-old girl Eugénie. The lessons include the anatomical discussion of the sexual organs and the erogenous zones , the practical examination of what has been learned in concrete sexual acts, as well as moral considerations about the sexual behavior of the sexes in particular and about their social behavior in general. In the course of the practical educational work, other people such as Madame de Saint-Ange's brother and her gardener are brought in to provide support.
In addition to masturbation and normal sexual intercourse , the educators particularly recommend anal intercourse in order to avoid pregnancy.
Bottom line: "A pretty girl should deal with fucking and never beget."
The student is advised to break away from moral conventions that are hostile to instincts. According to the teachings of the educators, sexual and spiritual emancipation also includes the knowledge of both male and female aggression. In general, sadomasochistic practices are recommended to women as an outlet to satisfy their lust for power and men to set up brothels with pleasure slaves.
At the end of the educational program, not only is the symbolic demand for the cord to be cut off from the mother's role model, but the genitals are sewn shut by the hand of libertine in an act of initiation of growing up in the presence of the mother's daughter.
Digression
In de Sade's tract French, another effort, if you want to be a republican , after the abolition of the monarchy , called for as a further effort to get rid of Christianity and thus also to liberate yourself morally and morally. As a model of the liberated faith, de Sade refers to Roman paganism . Customs and morals are said to be based on republican duties of humanity and solidarity, while Christianity with its priesthood has exposed itself as a superstition and an instrument of oppression against the people. In addition to freedom of expression, generally mild laws and the abolition of the death penalty, de Sade also calls for citizens to be free to pursue their aggressive instincts. Instead of chastity and loyalty, a general promiscuity should take hold.
The pamphlet leads to a glorification of violence as a consequence of the natural egoistic strivings of people, which degenerate into a struggle of all against all. The author follows the philosophical reflections of Hobbesian Leviathan , although de Sade refuses his republicans the social contract with which the social community submits to a general law or an absolutist ruler in order to buy inner peace. Instead, the bare principle of competition applies, according to which the stronger defeats the weaker.
Editions (German)
- The philosophy in the boudoir. Munich 1975.
- Marquis de Sade: Selected Works I – III. Hamburg, 1962–1965.
