Philosophes: The Late 17th And 18th Century

Mary Wollstonecraft was a pioneer in feminist thinking and writing. She was influenced by Thomas Paine that all women should have equal rights. When Wollstonecraft was younger she witnessed her mom being verbally and physically abused by her father. Her father referred to her mother as a piece of property who cannot have the same future as him due to her sex. After her mother’s death, Wollstonecraft decided to make her own livelihood with her sister Eliza and her best friend Fanny.

“Above all, perhaps, the rationalists of the eighteenth century aroused the social conscience of mankind and stimulated the humanitarianism.” The Enlightenment allowed a period of educational growth to begin. A new love for knowledge and debate sprung up throughout the century. Women joined in with the intellectual banter by starting salons. “If Voltaire transformed the thoughts, and Rousseau the feelings, of the eighteenth century, it was the salons of Paris that the new conceptions of ‘reason’ and ‘nature,’ of ‘free thought’ and the importance of the individual, were sifted, codified, and eventually imposed.” Women played a central role in the organization of these intellectual gatherings, holding them in their homes. They invited prominent, academically inclined men to join together to share ideas, in which the lady of the home regulated with agendas and topics. Women were able to be present when men spoke of the political, social, and

During the Enlightenment, revolutionary thinkers called philosophes brought about new ideas as to how to better understand and improve their society. They were all modern thinkers and had the best interests of society in mind. Although each philosoph had his or her own ideas, they all centered around one main theme: equality and human freedom.

Mary Wollstonecraft contributed the best to the United States democracy because she was one of the first women to be a strong activist for women’s rights. She believed that all men- and women are created equal and therefore should have equal rights. She expresses women are looked at as “weaker” to men because they are not given the same opportunities as men, such as education. But, she also wrote several books like A Vindication of the Rights of Women, still looked at today as a strong women rights book. Mary Wollstonecraft believed that not just men and women-

Throughout the Enlightenment, philosophes have made discoveries as well as have ideas that have revolutionized society as we know it today. The Enlightenment took place during the 17th and 18th century in Europe. During this period, philospohes, or philosophers, would discuss different questions and brought new, intellecutal ideas that brought out the Age of Reason. There is many different points of view of what the philosophes main idea was during the enlightenment. The main idea of the philosophes was greater individual freedom. This idea was a key part of their thinking in three areas: government, religion and women's rights.

Many new ideas sprouted following the enlightenment period, but one of the dominant new ideals was women 's rights. Women do just as much if not more work than men, but are continued to be treated poorly. In order for a society to be in peace, everyone, including women should have the power to express their wants and needs. With women having equal rights it creates a better their society. Mary Wollstonecraft was a philosopher supporting the cause for women 's rights. During this time she made a huge impact on many women giving them hope

During the Age of Enlightenment in the late eighteenth century, Mary Wollstonecraft presented a radical essay, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, that shed light on the largest, underrepresented groups of the time, women. The essay voiced the inequalities women at the time faced and called upon Wollstonecraft’s audience to invoke a revolution for the rights of women. Through her writing, she presented a compelling argument that slowly allowed women to question their “place” in society and demand change to the British social order. While these changes did not happen quickly, her work sparked the feminist movements through its unique message and called upon women to demand equality through the Match Girls Strike and Women’s Suffrage

The eighteenth century brought about a great deal of change and a new-found interest in science and reason. Because of this, many great inventions, ideas and innovative theorists arose from this time period. Among them was a forward-thinking essayist by the name of Mary Wollstonecraft. In her book, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft preaches her belief that the oppression of women is largely due to lack of female education. Although the term "feminism" wasn’t coined until decades later, Wollstonecraft paved the way for future women’s rights movements by advocating equality in education for women. She believed men and women should be equal in the very basic aspects of life, such as in loyalty in marriage. Wollstonecraft

Big ideas are the start of big changes. In the 17th and the 18th century in Western Europe, well-educated philosophers or philisophes came up with ideas to change society and base things off of individual freedom and individual decisions. Philosophers used natural laws and observation to form their ideas and to change society. The philosophers believed that great individual freedom would improve society. This was true in the aspects of political, economic, and gender equality freedom.

To begin, Philosophes of The Enlightenment were truly remarkable. They are constantly thinking of ways to better the sake of the world. Voltaire, John Locke, Adam Smith and Mary Wollstonecraft all had one purpose, to unite everyone. The main idea that they were trying to imply is that everyone should interact with each other to make the world a better place. Religion should not be separated, government all be ruled by one branch, women be inferior to men and lastly the people who are living in a bad government should have right to abolish the government and prevent it from going bad.Concurrently, you might ask, why his was their main idea? It's quite simple, These 4 profound Philosophes were alive in an era that wasn't the best. There was chaos among the people and government, which led to society to begin to tear up. The Philosophes wanted to change that they wanted to live in a world where you can pass past a religion with a friendly hello not, "cut one another’s throats out".This idea was a key part of their thinking in three areas: change in Government, Unity of religion , and natural rights. All three of these main ideas had such a big impact on how time played a role in society.

It is in my opinion that Mary Wollstonecraft was influenced not only by the overall treatment in society upon woman but how they were portrayed in literature and on paper; she referenced the works of a Dr. Gregory and Jean- Jacques Rousseau and how she thought their thoughts were superficial and silly. In comparison to Thomas Paine and his work of the Rights of Man, I would say him and Mary Wollstonecraft shared the same views on equality and removal of despotic hereditary based regime. Paine focused more on the overall power structure in society and Wollstonecraft focused more on its citizens and affects equality, or lack thereof, has on society. In the argument of her case, Wollstonecraft made strong arguments for fair and equal treatment of woman and men alike and even left us with a blueprint of what has become our modern public school

It all began with the enlightenment of absolutism, a time period where leaders shared power with people which gave people more freedom and strengthed power of leaders. During the 18th century philosophers, as a result of enlightened absolutisn began to question ways to improve the society. Thinkers believed that enlightened absolutism was inconsitent with the society. The age of enlightenment was a time of new ideas, that disagreed with common beliefs. As thinkers found ways to improve the society they were dependent on reason and naturals laws. They believed if they used natural laws they could discover patterns in nature which can apply human activities like government and economics. Most philospherd wanted to shift their society with more

Much of modern Europe started to develop since the eighteenth century. A big stepping-stone in forming modern cultural, political, and economic was the scientific revolution and the enlightenment period. Both periods were important, because it started to provoke people to think and write in a different way that later on became the main ideas of the enlightenment era. During the scientific revolutions the establishment of scientific unions, experimental method development, and experimentation, further open the minds of scientist. Furthermore, philosophers look at the world in a different way, from more angles, which challenged the idea of absolutism and later shaped the cultural, political, and economic life of the eighteenth century Europe.

Mary Wollstonecraft, who was born during the age of enlightenment in the 18th century, is one of the most prominent feminists in women’s history. Her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman led her to become one of the first feminists, advocating for the rights of women. Born in a time where women’s education was neither prominent nor important, Wollstonecraft was raised with very little education. However, events in her life influenced her to begin writing, such as the way her father, Edward John Wollstonecraft treated her mother, “into a state of wearied servitude” (Kries,Steven)1. In 1792, she published Vindication on the Rights of Woman, which is one of the most prominent feminist pieces to date. This book is considered a reply to

Mary Wollstonecraft’s, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, is another example in which an Enlightenment author exhibits their opinion on the education and purpose of women. Contradictory to Rousseau’s writing, Wollstonecraft believed that women have a greater purpose than to serve man, and that is to be independent and care for others while they also care for themselves. She stated that unlike in Emile, women should be seen as and act independently and take care of themselves. She believed that women are not on this Earth for the purpose of serving men, and that they can stray away from these duties if they wish. Education wise, Wollstonecraft believed that a woman should not be limited to caring for their families, but may choose to pursue a higher learning, such as nursing and healing. But, she also said that caring for their children and husbands is not to be seen as a lesser job that women take part in, and that it is to be respected. Although Wollstonecraft incorporated some