Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: A Vindication of Mary Wollstonecraft
- Chapter 1 Scripturally Annotated: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
- List of Contentmatter
- Dedication
- Advertisement
- Introduction
- Chapter I The Rights and Involved Duties of Mankind Considered
- Chapter II The Prevailing Opinion of a Sexual Character Discussed
- Chapter III The Same Subject Continued
- Chapter IV Observations on the State of Degradation to Which Woman Is Reduced by Various Causes
- Chapter V Animadversions on Some of the Writers Who Have Rendered Women Objects of Pity, Bordering on Contempt
- Chapter VI The Effect Which an Early Association of Ideas Has Upon the Character
- Chapter VII Modesty—Comprehensively Considered, and Not as a Sexual Virtue
- Chapter VIII Morality Undermined by Sexual Notions of the Importance of a Good Reputation
- Chapter IX Of the Pernicious Effects Which Arise from the Unnatural Distinctions Established in Society
- Chapter X Parental Affection
- Chapter XI Duty to Parents
- Chapter XII On National Education
- Chapter XIII Some Instances of the Folly Which the Ignorance of Women Generates; With Concluding Reflections on the Moral Improvement that a Revolution in Female Manners Might Naturally Be Expected to Produce
- Chapter 2 Ripe for Revolution and Revelation
- Chapter 3 A Biblical Accounting for the Equality of Women
- Chapter 4 Femme Godwin and Her Religion
- Chapter 5 The Crafters of Wollstonecraft’s Religion
- Chapter 6 Fellow Heirs, Travelers, and Sojourners
- Chapter 7 Postmortem Rendering of Wollstonecraft’s Beliefs
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter I - The Rights and Involved Duties of Mankind Considered
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 March 2024
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: A Vindication of Mary Wollstonecraft
- Chapter 1 Scripturally Annotated: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
- List of Contentmatter
- Dedication
- Advertisement
- Introduction
- Chapter I The Rights and Involved Duties of Mankind Considered
- Chapter II The Prevailing Opinion of a Sexual Character Discussed
- Chapter III The Same Subject Continued
- Chapter IV Observations on the State of Degradation to Which Woman Is Reduced by Various Causes
- Chapter V Animadversions on Some of the Writers Who Have Rendered Women Objects of Pity, Bordering on Contempt
- Chapter VI The Effect Which an Early Association of Ideas Has Upon the Character
- Chapter VII Modesty—Comprehensively Considered, and Not as a Sexual Virtue
- Chapter VIII Morality Undermined by Sexual Notions of the Importance of a Good Reputation
- Chapter IX Of the Pernicious Effects Which Arise from the Unnatural Distinctions Established in Society
- Chapter X Parental Affection
- Chapter XI Duty to Parents
- Chapter XII On National Education
- Chapter XIII Some Instances of the Folly Which the Ignorance of Women Generates; With Concluding Reflections on the Moral Improvement that a Revolution in Female Manners Might Naturally Be Expected to Produce
- Chapter 2 Ripe for Revolution and Revelation
- Chapter 3 A Biblical Accounting for the Equality of Women
- Chapter 4 Femme Godwin and Her Religion
- Chapter 5 The Crafters of Wollstonecraft’s Religion
- Chapter 6 Fellow Heirs, Travelers, and Sojourners
- Chapter 7 Postmortem Rendering of Wollstonecraft’s Beliefs
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In the present state of society it appears necessary to go back to first principles in search of the most simple truths, and to dispute with some prevailing prejudice every inch of ground. To clear my way, I must be allowed to ask some plain questions, and the answers will probably appear as unequivocal as the axioms on which reasoning is built; though, when entangled with various motives of action, they are formally contradicted, either by the words or conduct of men.
In what does man’s pre-eminence over the brute creation consist? The answer is as clear as that a half is less than the whole; in Reason.
What acquirement exalts one being above another? Virtue; we spontaneously reply.
For what purpose were the passions implanted? That man by struggling with them might attain a degree of knowledge denied to the brutes; whispers Experience.
Consequently the perfection of our nature and capability of happiness, must be estimated by the degree of reason, virtue, and knowledge, that distinguish the individual, and direct the laws which bind society: and that from the exercise of reason, knowledge and virtue naturally flow, is equally undeniable, if mankind be viewed collectively.
The rights and duties of man thus simplified, it seems almost impertinent to attempt to illustrate truths that appear so incontrovertible; yet such deeply rooted prejudices have clouded reason, and such spurious qualities have assumed the name of virtues, that it is necessary to pursue the course of reason as it has been perplexed and involved in error, by various adventitious circumstances, comparing the simple axiom with casual deviations.
Men, in general, seem to employ their reason to justify prejudices, which they have imbibed, they can scarcely trace how, rather than to root them out. The mind must be strong that resolutely forms its own principles; for a kind of intellectual cowardice prevails which makes many men shrink from the task, or only do it by halves. Yet the imperfect conclusions thus drawn, are frequently very plausible, because they are built on partial experience, on just, though narrow, views.
Going back to first principles, vice skulks, with all its native deformity, from close investigation; but a set of shallow reasoners are always exclaiming that these arguments prove too much, and that a measure rotten at the core may be expedient.
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- Wollstonecraft and Religion , pp. 27 - 34Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2024