Every Philosopher who directly oppose Feminism Explained

Throughout history, some of the greatest minds in philosophy—while shaping politics, science, and culture—also built the intellectual foundations of sexism and anti‑feminism. This video explores the troubling legacy of famous philosophers whose brilliance on one hand was paired with damaging views on women on the other.

From Aristotle’s theory of women as “deficient men” to Rousseau’s model of obedience and domesticity, from Hegel and Kant’s confinement of women to the private sphere, to the outright hostility in Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Weininger, and Freud’s medicalization of inequality—each case shows how philosophy wasn’t just abstract thought. It shaped real‑world systems that denied women education, independence, and equality for centuries.

You’ll discover:
How Aristotle gave misogyny a “scientific” face that haunted Western thought for 2,000 years
How Rousseau’s vision of freedom excluded women by design
Why Hegel’s “story of freedom” stopped at the doorstep of the family home
The extreme hostility of Schopenhauer and Weininger, who turned misogyny into philosophy
Nietzsche’s contradictions—breaking chains but keeping women bound
Freud’s “penis envy” theory and its cultural damage
Kant’s hypocrisy of “universal reason” that was anything but universal

This is the other side of philosophy’s grand tradition: how monumental thinkers also reinforced patriarchy with their words and systems. By understanding these roots, we can see how deeply gender inequality was woven into Western thought—and how feminists from Wollstonecraft to de Beauvoir fought to undo it.

If you’ve ever wondered how sexism was dressed up as philosophy, this deep dive reveals how the so‑called champions of reason left women on the margins of reason itself.