MARY WOLLENSTONECRAFT Flashcards
What Part Of Liberalism Did She Develop?
Classical Liberal Ideas and Feminist Ideology
What century did she do her work in?
18th century
What assumption about human nature did she make?
That all humans were guided by reason, which should apply to both males and females
individual freedom and formal equality?
Society and state, as they both implied women were not rational
What example did she use of a blatant violation of ‘government by consent’?
Women couldn’t vote or rarely allowed land ownership
By not allowing women to have individualism what were nations limiting?
nations were limiting their stock of intelligence, wisdom and morality
What revolutions did she welcome?
The French Revolution (1789) and the American Revolution (1776)
Which conservative did she attack on their view of the French Revolution
Edmund Burke
Which type of government did she support
a republican government with formal equality and involving a constitutional defence of individual rights
What did she concede that women were complicit in doing?
The sexism of women being only desired for marriage an motherhood
How would this stigma about women be solved according to Wollstonecraft
formal education for both men and women
Why did she argue for formal education
Without formal education individuals cannot develop their rational facilities and never realise their potential
What is Wollstonecraft summary of ideas
A
Believed in he enlightenments optimistic view of human nature
A vindication of the rights of men trashed edmund burkes view on the french revolution, and applauded their view on citizens rather than gender
Pushed support for the republican government and a constitutional defense of individual rights
Argued that england was stopping half their brainpower while not supporting women
Significance of Wollstonecraft
She influenced many women and started the baseline for feminism
Wollstonecraft view on human Nature
Rationalism defines both genders, intellectually, men and women aren’t very different
