Wollstonecraft as a Philosopher
How can we know that Wollstonecraft was a philosopher?
Wollstonecraft's education certainly does not provide any evidence that she was a philosopher, as it was practically nonexistent. She had extremely little formal schooling, only attending a day school from ages 9 to15 (Ferguson, 2). She read and wrote French, Dutch and German; all were self-taught. Most of her intellectual development came about through her reading and discussion with the Dissenters she met at Newington Green, including Richard Price, Thomas Holcroft, William Godwin, William Blake and Thomas Paine (Ferguson, 10).
However, she engaged philosophically with many well known philosophers. She critiqued Rousseau most vehemently for his views regarding women. She was also familiar with Locke and Kant.
Most importantly, her works are very philosophical in that they deal with basic and general questions. Wollstonecraft addressed human nature, morality, epistemology and political theory. She constructed arguments based on foundational axioms. Although her work is not pure formal/logical argument within the rationalist tradition (see my essay on the subject), she does make logical arguments on a variety of subjects. Finally, Wollstonecraft saw herself as a rational, legitimate thinker:
Thanks to that Being who... gave me sufficient strength of mind to dare to exert my own reason, till becoming dependent only on him for the support of my virtue, I view, with indignation, the mistaken notions that enslave my sex. I love man as my fellow; but his scepter, real, or usurped, extends not to me, unless the reason of an individual demands my homage; and even then the submission is to reason, and not to man (Vindication 37).
Who were her intellectual influences?
For one edition of the Analytical Review, Wollstonecraft reviewed Catherine Macaulay's Letters on Education. Macaulay's work argued for education for women on very similar grounds to what Wollstonecraft would use in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, although Macaulay's argument was only a small section of her work. In the review, Wollstonecraft was extremely appreciative of Letters on Education. Later, when writing the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft again praised Macaulay and stated how indebted she was to her work. According to Eleanor Flexner, however, "the statement hardly constitutes adequate recognition of a work which antedated her own passages of which are remarkably similar to some in the Vindication " (Vindication, 232). [See Gardner for a good discussion of Macaulay's work in relation to Wollstonecraft's. Bibliography . Also see Karen Warren's online lecture notes on Macaulay.]
Mary's religious and moral philosophy included many principles expressed by Richard Price in his A Review of the Principle Questions in Morals. Price wrote (as did Wollstonecraft later) that God is everything good and virtuous, and that humans can only develop virtues of their own through an understanding of and unity with God. "Because of this unity with God, humans are empowered, and under a moral obligation, to develop the attributes and virtues, that God empowers people to develop" (Johnson, 41).
Richard Price was a member of the English antiestablishment Dissenters. Prohibited from entering universities as a result of their religious beliefs, communities of Dissenters set up their own schools and intellectual centers. One such group, including Price, existed in Newington Green at the time Wollstonecraft moved there. Wollstonecraft quickly became a part of their social circle, and participating in their debates undoubtedly advanced her thinking. The group included William Godwin (Wollstonecraft's future husband), Thomas Holcroft, William Blake, and Thomas Paine. It was through this group, as well, that Wollstonecraft met Joseph Johnson, who became her publisher and was very supportive of her intellectual pursuits.