Browsing by Subject "Wollstonecraft"

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Open Access
Introduction
(Oxford Scholarship Online, 2016) Berges, Sandrine; Coffee, A. M. S. J.; Berges, Sandrine; Coffee, A. M. S. J.
In the Introduction to this volume, the authors attempt to reflect on the place of Wollstonecraft studies in the recovery project through the attempts to (re-) introduce texts by women in academic philosophy; to present a brief biography of Mary Wollstonecraft, and to introduce each chapter in the volume. This introduction also presents aspects of Wollstonecraft scholarship: a study of her intellectual background, from her possible acquaintance with ancient texts to her engagement with eighteenth-century political philosophy; and her social and political thought, showing that it goes beyond feminism and deals with questions of children and animal rights, property rights and slavery. The chapter concludes with a more detailed look at her specifically republican outlook on freedom.
Open Access
Mary Wollstonecraft’s influence on French revolutionary educational reform
(Routledge, 2025-07-25) Bergès, Sandrine
When Mary Wollstonecraft travelled to Paris in December 1792, she was already well-known there as a republican writer, and a defender of women’s rights, particularly to education. Her philosophy of education was very closely tied to her republican beliefs – to educate a child in the right way was to preserve her from domination. In Paris, Wollstonecraft became friends with several famous Girondins, including Madame Roland and Jacques-Pierre Brissot. She was asked to participate in the drafting of Nicolas de Condorcet's report on the reform of education. Condorcet was himself an early proponent of women's rights in France and unlike his predecessor, Talleyrand, he did not want to leave women out from French educational reforms. Although her notes on this report did not survive, I argue that Wollstonecraft did in fact influence French educational reforms. Looking at the reception of Wollstonecraft's work among the Girondins, and Condorcet's early drafts of the reform proposal, I argue that Wollstonecraft's legacy in the final years of the Revolution can be traced in particular to the 1795 Loi Daunou and its corresponding report, by Joseph Lakanal, on girls’ primary education.
Open Access
Mothers and independent citizens: making sense of Wollstonecraft's supposed essentialism
(UniSA Press, 2013) Berges, S.
Mary Wollstonecraft argues that women must be independent citizens, but that they cannot be that unless they fulfill certain duties as mothers. This is problematic in a number of ways, as argued by Laura Brace in a 2000 article. However, I argue that if we understand Wollstonecraft's concept of independence in a republican, rather than a liberal context, and at the same time pay close attention to her discussion of motherhood, a feminist reading of Wollstonecraft is not only possible but enriching. I will attempt to show, in particular, that the seeds of a feminist argument for co-parenting are to be found in the Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
Open Access
Wet-Nursing and political participation
(Oxford Scholarship Online, 2016) Berges, Sandrine; Berges, Sandrine; Coffee, A. M. S. J.
Caring duties, which fall particularly to women, are not always compatible with the degree of public life that republican citizenship requires. This is sometimes held as a feminist objection to republicanism. This chapter addresses this objection by focusing on the case of the mothering of infants and wet-nursing in the writings of Wollstonecraft and de Grouchy, two feminist writers of the Enlightenment period. It argues that both writers believe that mothering is central to the development of republican values and that compassion enables the growth of republican sentiments. But for Wollstonecraft this is a double-edged sword. For women to earn the status of citizens they must, if they are mothers, perform all duties attending to motherhood, including breastfeeding their children. Unfortunately, it is those duties that conflict with republican citizenship. A comparison with de Grouchy’s own views on wet-nursing will point to a possible solution.
Open Access
Why women hug their chains: wollstonecraft and adaptive preferences
(Cambridge University Press, 2011) Berges, S.
In a recent article,1 Amartya Sen writes that one important influence on his theory of adaptive preferences is Wollstonecraft's account of how some women, though clearly oppressed, are apparently satisfied with their lot. Wollstonecraft's arguments have received little attention so far from contemporary political philosophers, and one might be tempted to dismiss Sen's acknowledgment as a form of gallantry.2 That would be wrong. Wollstonecraft does have a lot of interest to say on the topic of why her contemporaries appeared to choose what struck her as oppression, and her views can still help us reflect on contemporary problems such as the ones identified and discussed by Amartya Sen. In this article I will argue that a close look at Wollstonecraft's arguments may lead us to rethink some aspects of Sen's discussion of the phenomenon of adaptive preferences.