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Work #101

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Mary Wollstonecraft
1792 (London, six weeks) · English
Political-philosophical treatise in thirteen chapters · Enlightenment radicalism / proto-feminist political philosophy

Women are not naturally inferior — only made so by inadequate education; reason is the same in both sexes

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Time · Extent Both
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Immediate
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Personal
Observer · Moral Authority Reason
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Finite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Real historical time. Education across time changes capacities; reform is possible.

Space

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Standard background.

Matter

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Embodied life is the substrate of moral and intellectual development.

Observer

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Wollstonecraft's observer is the rational human being — embodied, plural, fully capable of moral and intellectual development regardless of sex.

Energy

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Not engaged.

Information

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Real moral and intellectual knowledge is preserved across generations through education. Personal information conserved (standard Christian framework).

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman

Wollstonecraft's argument is sometimes criticised as assuming the male norm of rational excellence rather than developing a distinctively female moral standpoint. Twentieth-century feminism (Carol Gilligan, Sara Ruddick) has both criticised and built on this foundation. Wollstonecraft's own difficult life — unmarried motherhood, suicide attempts, death in childbirth — has often been read into the work; modern scholarship has worked to disentangle the philosophical argument from the biographical legend.