Mill’s The Subjugation of Women was a revolutionary departure from conventional standards for men and women in Britain. Knowing this, he predicted the possible objections of his critics and then countered them. Of these objections, was a protest to Mill’s comparison “between the government of the male sex and the forms of unjust power” (20). He writes rationally in response to the objection: using persuasive writing techniques, like logos, ethos, and pathos; organizing his essay in four parts; and works with precedents in philosophical thought, that is, the state of nature. He presents his points, jarring by nature when considering the time period, to his audience without brazenly identifying with any particular movement; all so that his work
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After presenting his colleagues’ possible counter arguments, that male governance is “natural,” he immediately counters, “But was there ever any domination which did not appear natural to those who possessed it?” (20-21). Mills mentions despotism and slavery as other illegitimate abuses of power, comparing the political and societal power available males to the superiority complex that pervades those institutions. From this position, part one, he argues against marriage, part two, viewing it as a form of legal slavery. He points out the injustice in that the mother has no rights to her children, though she bears the burdens of caring for them, utilizing logos with his evidence. He then attacks the lack of employment for women, part three, and states that equality for women would be a liberation that would benefit the general good, part four, an application of ethos. Mills then says that he does not know a “more signal instance of the blindness with which the world, including the herd of studious men, ignore and pass over all the influences of social circumstances, than their silly depreciation of the intellectual, and silly panegyrics on the moral, nature of women” (142), shaming those who challenge him, using a combination of ethos and pathos in his …show more content…
He never uses the term, but makes a point to neither condemn feminism nor unnecessarily distance himself it: “All causes, social and natural, combine to make it unlikely that women should be collectively rebellious to the power of men” (26). Ironically, or perhaps naturally, Mill’s ultimate call for the equality of the sexes has become the main objective of 21st century, third wave
After presenting his colleagues’ possible counter arguments, that male governance is “natural,” he immediately counters, “But was there ever any domination which did not appear natural to those who possessed it?” (20-21). Mills mentions despotism and slavery as other illegitimate abuses of power, comparing the political and societal power available males to the superiority complex that pervades those institutions. From this position, part one, he argues against marriage, part two, viewing it as a form of legal slavery. He points out the injustice in that the mother has no rights to her children, though she bears the burdens of caring for them, utilizing logos with his evidence. He then attacks the lack of employment for women, part three, and states that equality for women would be a liberation that would benefit the general good, part four, an application of ethos. Mills then says that he does not know a “more signal instance of the blindness with which the world, including the herd of studious men, ignore and pass over all the influences of social circumstances, than their silly depreciation of the intellectual, and silly panegyrics on the moral, nature of women” (142), shaming those who challenge him, using a combination of ethos and pathos in his …show more content…
He never uses the term, but makes a point to neither condemn feminism nor unnecessarily distance himself it: “All causes, social and natural, combine to make it unlikely that women should be collectively rebellious to the power of men” (26). Ironically, or perhaps naturally, Mill’s ultimate call for the equality of the sexes has become the main objective of 21st century, third wave