Mary Wollstonecraft A Vindication Of The Rights Of Women Summary
Raquel Mann
Professor Shottenkirk
PHIL 2101
November 11 2017
Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Women Many arguments have been put forth to justify man's cruelty over woman, and explain
how women are unable to attain their righteousness due to their insufficient strength. However,
Wollstonecraft repeats, if women have souls then there should be no fundamental difference
between men and women in pursuing and attaining virtue. Women aren't a group of short lived
things. Men complain about the silliness and unpredictable changes of women, but do not
comprehend that people themselves are responsible for the all-presence of women's servility;
from childhood, women are taught to be weak, soft, crafty, and proud only of their beauty.
Women are …show more content…
kept in a state of childhood and innocence, and when the term "innocence" is applied
to women it designates them as weak rather than blameless. (PAR 1 AND 2)
Wollstonecraft says, “How grossly do they insult us who thus advise us only to render
ourselves gentle, domestic brutes!” This means that men talk about women in a very extreme the
way; they define them as gentle and family oriented.
Many men act in an unphilosophical way;
they make an attempt to keep women’s good conduct by keeping them innocent like children.
Wollstonecraft turns to the subject of manners and education. The most perfect type of
education is one that encourages the individual to accomplish habits of virtue, or goodness, that
will declare him or her independent. Virtuous beings must derive their virtue from the exercise of
reason. Rousseau focused on applying that argument to men, and here Wollstonecraft applies it to women. She agrees that young children should be kept innocent, but the same can’t be said for
women. All human beings should be encouraged to think for themselves. She believes that
parents should prepare their children for the day they begin to think for themselves. Although,
she admits that people are always products of societies they live in, and educations should strive
towards making the individual as the most independent thinker
possible. Many of the writers on female education, such as Rousseau and Dr. Gregory, tend to
portray women as more artificial and weak than they would be under better conditions.
Wollstonecraft blames Rousseau for promoting a type of education that makes women
completely useless as members of society. Taking Rousseau's argument to its end, if men
achieved perfection of mind when they arrived at maturity it would be acceptable to have man
and woman become one and let the woman lean on the man's perfect understanding, but in
reality, men are just as corrupt and childlike as women are assumed to be.
Professor Shottenkirk
PHIL 2101
November 11 2017
Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Women Many arguments have been put forth to justify man's cruelty over woman, and explain
how women are unable to attain their righteousness due to their insufficient strength. However,
Wollstonecraft repeats, if women have souls then there should be no fundamental difference
between men and women in pursuing and attaining virtue. Women aren't a group of short lived
things. Men complain about the silliness and unpredictable changes of women, but do not
comprehend that people themselves are responsible for the all-presence of women's servility;
from childhood, women are taught to be weak, soft, crafty, and proud only of their beauty.
Women are …show more content…
kept in a state of childhood and innocence, and when the term "innocence" is applied
to women it designates them as weak rather than blameless. (PAR 1 AND 2)
Wollstonecraft says, “How grossly do they insult us who thus advise us only to render
ourselves gentle, domestic brutes!” This means that men talk about women in a very extreme the
way; they define them as gentle and family oriented.
Many men act in an unphilosophical way;
they make an attempt to keep women’s good conduct by keeping them innocent like children.
Wollstonecraft turns to the subject of manners and education. The most perfect type of
education is one that encourages the individual to accomplish habits of virtue, or goodness, that
will declare him or her independent. Virtuous beings must derive their virtue from the exercise of
reason. Rousseau focused on applying that argument to men, and here Wollstonecraft applies it to women. She agrees that young children should be kept innocent, but the same can’t be said for
women. All human beings should be encouraged to think for themselves. She believes that
parents should prepare their children for the day they begin to think for themselves. Although,
she admits that people are always products of societies they live in, and educations should strive
towards making the individual as the most independent thinker
possible. Many of the writers on female education, such as Rousseau and Dr. Gregory, tend to
portray women as more artificial and weak than they would be under better conditions.
Wollstonecraft blames Rousseau for promoting a type of education that makes women
completely useless as members of society. Taking Rousseau's argument to its end, if men
achieved perfection of mind when they arrived at maturity it would be acceptable to have man
and woman become one and let the woman lean on the man's perfect understanding, but in
reality, men are just as corrupt and childlike as women are assumed to be.