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Work #310 · Early (preceding the more famous 1792 Vindication of the Rights of Woman)

A Vindication of the Rights of Men

Mary Wollstonecraft
1790 (the first major published response to Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France) · English
Political-philosophical pamphlet · British radical Enlightenment / early feminist political philosophy

The first published response to Burke's Reflections — Wollstonecraft's 1790 defence of the French Revolution's rationalist political principles

Attribute Fingerprint

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

Attribute A Vindication of the Rights of Men (Early (preceding the more famous 1792 Vindication of the Rights of Woman))
Time · Extent Infinite
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 Partial
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 Infinite
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 Men

The historical time of the French Revolution; the political-philosophical debate over its principles.

Space

A Vindication of the Rights of Men

The British-French political-cultural space of the 1790s.

Matter

A Vindication of the Rights of Men

Embodied citizens whose rights are at issue.

Observer

A Vindication of the Rights of Men

The rational citizen as observer; Wollstonecraft as the philosophical voice. Personal-providential God as framework.

Energy

A Vindication of the Rights of Men

The rhetorical-political energies of revolutionary debate.

Information

A Vindication of the Rights of Men

The Enlightenment-rationalist political tradition preserved through the Vindication.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

A Vindication of the Rights of Men

The Vindication of the Rights of Men has been less widely read than the 1792 Vindication of the Rights of Woman, partly because Burke's Reflections itself has remained a major conservative text. The relation between Wollstonecraft's two Vindications has been a continuing scholarly question. Modern feminist scholarship has substantially rehabilitated the broader Wollstonecraftian philosophical project.