Another English Great Thinker

Home » Mind & Soul » Great Thinkers » Mary Wollstonecraft Philosophy A brief insight of Mary Wollstonecraft as an original 18th century woman great thinker of her time. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) is regarded as a pioneer feminist, who unfortunately died in childbirth at the early age of 38. She was a philosopher, a radical thinker who campaigned for the rights of women. Wollstonecraft's most important work is Vindication of the Rights of Women, preceded by a pamphlet, Vindication of the Rights of Man. In her work, Wollstonecraft argued at that time that slavery and the treatment of the poor were immoral, and British people had the right to remove a bad king. She was not merely for women's rights, but in effect, wanted equal rights for everyone. Philosophy in Equal Sharing For Wollstonecraft, the evil of her days and the means by which to put them right, lay in education as she echoed this in the introduction to the Vindication of the Rights of Women. She claimed that since the good of society proceeds from the increase of reason, knowledge and virtue, it can only be to the benefit of both sexes to maximize these qualities. Further, that to treat women as mere trifles encouraged them to be cunning, and therefore debases their natural talents and fosters discord in the home that can be perpetuated in the children. Suppression of Women's Natural Abilities Wollstonecraft was concerned with the way women's natural abilities were being suppressed through an education that emphasized the qualities required to serve men rather than enhance their natural abilities as people. Although Wollstonecraft was clear that it is male-dominated society that has encouraged women to be 'docile and attentive to their looks to the exclusion of all else' and that marriage is merely 'legal prostitution,' she was adamant that this is as much to the detriment of men as it is to women.