quartz/content/notes/065-mary-woolstonecraft.md

title	aliases	tags
065-mary-woolstonecraft		podcast/philosophizethis

royal humane society - resusitation

saved mary woolstone craft from the river thames and resusitated after attempted suicide

suicide is crazy - all our intellect decides the only way is to end it all

born april 27th 1759

renaissanece - voltaire rossueau, burke

born into conservative household - dad was a drunk wifebeater she tried to protect her mother

lead to need to protect other women

helped her sister escape from bad marriage

becomes personal tutor to family with four young daughters

• dfa
  • they were similar to other women of that age
  • conditioned to become a "good wife"
    • be quiet, loog good in a corset
    • sexual "plaything"
    • submission leads to a "good life"
      • not critical thinking etc
  • after being taught bny mary were incedibly succesful

• despite reconsideration about slaves, there were no reconsiderations as women as slaves
• john locke - tabula rossa - "maybe the content of someones character is dependent on their previous experiences"
  • jean jaque rosseau emilie - education of men versus education of women
    • women - "the whole education of women ought ot be relative to men, to please them, to be useful to them, to make themselves loved and honoured by them, to educate them when young, to care for them when grown, to counsel them to console them, and to make life agreeable and sweet to them, these are the duties of women at all times, and should be taught to them from their infancy"
    • sounds like slavery
  • this is what woolstone craft is reponding to
    • "strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience, but as blind obedience is ever sought for by power, tyrants and sensualists are in the right when they endevour to keep women in the dark, because the former only wants slaves and the latter a plaything"
    • the system that opreses womens is like a tyrant,
    • women are percieved and mentally and physically inferior to men
    • chicken vs egg, women always stupid or have men made them stupid
    • introduced the idea that equality is for women and men (wow)
    • pursuit of true equality
• read edomnd burke reflections (exalted tradition as ultimate guide))
  • mary rejected this - tradition should be questioned
• after death was castaged for being a vixen "whore"
  • had many children without marrying
  • marraige laws were virtually legal slavery this is why she didn't marry
• dared to questiont the social convention around her, while being hated
• "successful life"
  • back then -> "submissive to husband who buys everything"
  • now -> "?" this is still happening - might be just as bad
  • what about men
  • "admirable behaviour" - contantly changing, with the culture and world - same for most cultural conventions
  • what is reponsible for this change
    • happen in bursts "revolutions"
    • some one points out a glaring injustice, then change occurs
    • philosophy and religion
• who/what is the tyrant now - how am i being conditioned now.
• futured generation will hate us as we have earlier generations
  • "ill just defend the best behaviour set I know of"
  • acknowleding how arbitrary our current norms are is freeing
  • what conditioning might have led to a convicts behaviour, can we change it