Mary Wollstonecraft Flashcards
liberalism
when was she alive?
1759-97
what type of liberal was she?
classical/feminist liberal
what did she publish?
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman- 1792
-A Vindication of the Rights of Man- 1970
what did she argue about society + state (ref. women)
they implied women weren’t rational so were denied individual freedom + formal equality
what did she welcome?
the American Rev (1776) + the French Rev. (1789)
what was her primary claim?
the Enlightenment’s optimistic view of HN (+ assumption it was guided by nature) should apply to all humans
what did A Vindication of the Rights of Man attack?
Burke’s critique of the French rev. + his defense of custom + aristocratic rule
what did women not have?
-freedom
-formal equality
-the right to vote
what were nations loosing from fettering female individualism?
-limiting their stock of intelligence, wisdom + morality
-‘such arrangements are not conditions where reason and progress may prosper’
what did Wollstonecraft call the lack of the right to vote?
a violation of ‘government by consent’
what were women rarely allowed?
-land ownership
-remunerative employment
how did she wish to amend women’s subjugation?
formal education made available to as many people possible
what government did she favour?
republican government + formal equality
-constitutional defense of individual rights
what did she accept about women?
they were complicit in their subjugation
