Supplément au voyage de Bougainville

Supplément au voyage de Bougainville, ou dialogue entre A et B sur l'inconvénient d'attacher des idées morales à certaines actions physiques qui n'en comportent pas.

[3] Because of his study of nature and the advancements in life sciences, Denis Diderot came to the conclusion that universal progress depends largely on Eros.

"[4] For Claudia Moscovici, Diderot's critique of 18th century French society, especially its rules controlling human sexuality, can especially be seen in the Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville.

In this way, Claudia Moscovici argues that Diderot believed that marriage controlled human sexuality because women and men were bound to one another, prohibiting them from having children with others.

[4] For Alice Parker, Diderot also believed this idea because French women were no longer free to satisfy their own desires, especially sexual ones, and had to adhere to the commands of their "bourgeois patriarchs.

"[5] Walter E. Rex has suggested that Diderot's claim in Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville that women should not be the property of men is contradicted by the letter that he writes to Angélique, his daughter, on her wedding day.

[7] The submission that Diderot enjoins is contrary to the liberation displayed in the Tahitian lifestyle in Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville.