POLS 3040 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Standing Army, French Revolution, Masculinity
6 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
In a vindication of the rights of women, mary wollstonecraft sets out a logical argument defending the rights women ought to have that men have denied them up until this point in history. Wollstonecraft strategically lays out much of her logical argument to appeal to these prevalent ideas, and to establish that women, like men, are entitled to the same opportunities, specifically education. In the first chapter wollstonecraft sets out two important premises, the first being that reason is the defining characteristic of humanity, and secondly, that virtue is what sets human beings apart from one another (wollstonecraft, 12). Since society is finally concerning itself with what it means to be human, it is deeply problematic if men decide that women are not human. Wollstonecraft appeals to god to advance her argument, that acting virtuously elevates the individual to be closer to god.
