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Mary Wollstonecraft And Her Defiance Against Enlightenment Philosophers

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The Boys Club: Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Defiance Against Enlightenment Philosophers
Writer and advocate for women's rights during the height of the Enlightenment period, Mary Wollstonecraft wrote several novels and articles highlighting the injustices women faced during the 18th century. While one of Mary Wollstonecraft's most notable pieces of writing, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, may seem to parallel Enlightenment philosopher ideals, it in fact, has no correlations. Mary Wollstonecraft cannot be considered an Enlightenment philosopher because, while her views on government mirror the views of Enlightenment philosopher Charles Montesquieu, her views on progress and secularism were much more radical and focused solely on feminism.
Mary Wollstonecraft exhibits no characteristics of an Enlightenment philosopher by choosing to exclusively address the rights, or lack thereof, of women as human beings in reference to the idea of progress. …show more content…
With a brief, yet notable career during the height of this period, Mary Wollstonecraft could easily be confused as an Enlightenment philosopher. However, while both Wollstonecraft and Enlightenment philosophers expressed radical ideas, Enlightenment philosophers focused on social refinement for the general greater good whilst Wollstonecraft focused on the equalizing of women and men. Despite similar views on government as Enlightenment philosopher Charles Montesquieu, Mary Wollstonecraft bares no resemblance of an Enlightenment philosopher. By purposely rejecting two major Enlightenment ideals, both progress and secularism, Mary Wollstonecraft prevails as a lone individual who managed to become a prominent figure campaigning for a revolution regarding women and their right to equitable education and social

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