Mary Wollstonecraft
Educate women as rational beings, not as ornaments.
Mary Wollstonecraft was a London writer, teacher and reviewer who took part in the radical debates opened by the French Revolution. She argued that reason and virtue are the same in women and men, that women’s apparent weakness is the product of their education and dependence, and that rights grounded in reason cannot stop at one half of humanity.
If women share the gift of reason, who made men the sole judges of their duties?
Biography
Mary Wollstonecraft was a London writer, teacher and reviewer who took part in the radical debates opened by the French Revolution. She argued that reason and virtue are the same in women and men, that women’s apparent weakness is the product of their education and dependence, and that rights grounded in reason cannot stop at one half of humanity.
02 /Philosophy
Reason is a gift bestowed on every human being; if women possess it, their duties must be grounded in their own understanding rather than imposed by men acting as exclusive judges.
03 /Reading guides
Original introductions to enter the works, discover their central questions and take the reflection further.
04 /Bibliography
Works, testimonies and further readings are distinguished. Dates refer to composition or first publication, as specified in each entry.
A first reading.
Reason and women’s education
Follow the argument of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman from shared reason to the reform of girls’ education and of women’s place in civic life.
A Vindication of the Rights of WomanRights against tradition
Read the reply to Burke to see how Wollstonecraft sets rights grounded in reason against the authority of inheritance and custom.
A Vindication of the Rights of MenA philosophical journey north
Explore the Scandinavian letters, where the observation of landscapes and societies turns into a reflection on feeling, reason and commerce.
Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark