Charles Fourier

French utopian socialist and philosopher (1772–1837)

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Lived 1772–1837, aged 65France

France AcademicsAcademic

Wikipedia
56 languages
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Era
1772–1837
Aged 65

Summary

Updated 2026-06-08

A French philosopher who sketched communes run on clockwork harmony and coined the word "feminism" in 1837, decades before the word caught fire. His utopian blueprints spawned actual colonies across two continents — most collapsed, but the ideas kept spreading.

Biography

About

François Marie Charles Fourier was born on 7 April 1772, a merchant's son who turned against commerce to imagine society rebuilt from scratch. He became one of the founders of utopian socialism, drafting elaborate plans for cooperative communities he called phalanxes. Views considered radical in his time — including his early advocacy for women's equality, which led him to originate the word "feminism" in 1837 — would later enter the mainstream. His writings inspired a wave of intentional communities: the North American Phalanx in Red Bank, Brook Farm in Massachusetts, colonies in Ohio, Texas,…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Charles Fourier

Charles Fourier

said1808

Wisdom, virtue, morality, all these have fallen out of fashion: everybody worships at the shrine of commerce.

— The Theory of the Four Movements (1808), G. Jones, ed. (1966), p. 269

Charles Fourier

saidundated

Nowhere is there more constancy and more unanimity than among the French to subordinate that sex which they pretend to honor so highly.

— The Theory of Social Organization

Charles Fourier

saidundated

Ignorant as regards the unity of man with himself, the world is still more ignorant in respect to the two other unities - unity of man with God and the universe.

Charles Fourier

saidundated