Women Troubles: Proofs of a Conspiracy...pp. 113-123

We ended last week with Robison's very long and circular fallacy of the appeal to false authority. To recap, he lauds Newton--as he should--but then claims that because Newton believed in god we all should too. In fact, all of the smart people in his time believed in god, so therefore...that belief is what made them smart. It's a long fallacy that is seeking to discredit Weishaupt on intellectual grounds because it looks like that is what he was doing. It's a sleight of hand trick that works in person, but when we read this kind of trick it is more confusing than anything else. As I wrote, and repeatedly said, "why are we talking about Laplace again?" 

By this point in the work, we are aware that Robison does not like the Illuminati and he's laid out their case of Deism/atheism. In the 18th century that should be enough, so this roundabout tactic is unnecessary. It's especially redundant because Robison can trade on his name if he wants. It is the only reason that anyone is buying this book and the only reason anyone is reading it, "Hey, the Scot who invented the siren says X..." Bringing other people into it is just piling on and it is especially annoying because it doesn't work.

The subversion of Christianity, the overthrow of the monarchy, the injection of general chaos into Europe? Is this the worst possible future for Robison? No. 

"There is nothing in the whole constitution of the Illuminati that strikes me with more horror than the proposals of Hercules and Minos to enlist the women in this shocking warfare with all that is, 'good, and pure, and lovely, and of good report."

In the end, it always comes down to something like this. When violence and anarchy won't grab someone's attention sex always will. Let's make a mistake here, this is about sex more than it is about women. Robison warns the women readers that they risk their "dignity, and for their rank in society," if they fall in with these Illuminati. Robison claims that "if they are remiss, and yield to the seduction, they will fall from that high state to which they have arisen in Christian Europe, and again sink into that insignificancy or slavery in which the sex is found in all ages and countries out of the hearing of Christianity."

I'm going to get the apologetic out of the way right now, yes 18th-century women in Europe had it better than 18th-century women in China. That's only because of the footbinding, because other than that--someone needs to tell me the difference. An 18th-century woman in the UK cannot vote, she cannot own property without a strange sequence of events, she barely chooses who she can marry, there are no protections against marital rape. I suppose she is allowed to speak without having permission granted, but the "woman" is only not a slave in terminology. 

Any rights she has scraped together is not because of Christianity but in spite of it. 1 Timothy 2:9-15  declares that a woman shall not teach a man nor hold power over him. She must dress modestly and that because Eve sinned before Adam women are forever inferior to men. Their only saving grace is child bearing. 

That's Christian doctrine. It's not better before that letter to Timothy, and will not get better after this part of the Bible. The problem that exists here is that Robison is afraid that his place is going to get lost if the Illuminati were to have their way. Let's be clear about what he claims that the Illuminati want: they want women to teach other women their precepts of deism, equality, and rationalism. Now, they would not let the women run their own school, there would be a male prefect or something in charge. So clearly the Illuminati aren't the modern progressives, but they are leaps and bounds above Robison is denigrating them with the label the "fairer sex." He goes to great pains to discuss how delicate, polite, and friendly. He even quotes a Mr. Ledyard (I assume the explorer John Ledyard), who has been around the world and met all kinds of women and they all had the traits of being "civil, obliging, tender, and humane;" 

Robison claims that the Illuminati will do away with this gentle disposition of women all in the name of equality. Which, he sees as a bad thing. Instead of the docile friendly woman, you would have an equal with their opinions who may or may not be friendly toward you. This future Illuminated woman might show up to the opera with other beautiful women, "laying aside all modesty, and presenting themselves to the public view, with bared limbs, a la Sauvage, as the alluring objects of desire."

This fear is written because that's what was reported to be happening in France after the revolution. Women were showing up to the opera, without male accompaniment, and with bared arms. Those dirty sluts! What horror if such a thing were to spread. It must be stopped and the chain of religion can restrain the women from such expression (but didn't Christianity make them free?). Robison continues in such a long rant about the worth of women and how her rights are indebted to religious moralism that one might be under the impression he was writing to women. 

No. This section is not for women, it is for men who are worried about losing their position. It is through Cicero's attack on the Epicurean school that we learned about the Epicureans. Here, it is through Robison's attack on the proposal to educate women. We learn that the Illuminati wanted to educate women in the enlightenment values and that this was a threat. However, it wasn't a threat to the women, they could still be affable, friendly, comforting, etc. it's just that their place in society would be different. They didn't have to be those things and that is what scares Robison. People don't get worried for other people in this manner unless they are concerned that their existing relationship with them will be changed. Allowing women to vote gave them a say in how they are governed, which is why so many people opposed it. Yes, no longer can frivolous gossip occupy their time amongst the upper classes, now they get to participate in the political discussions because they can change it. The Illuminati is going to harm women by educating them--people that agree with that statement, those are the ones that he is writing to. 

Robison then goes on with a comparison between women of the ancient world and those of his UK. That will be interesting and for next week.