‘Uncompromising politics’: Mary Wollstonecraft and Catherine Macaulay

2019 ◽  
pp. 23-48
Author(s):  
Ann Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Women Writers ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
General Trend ◽  
Mary Wollstonecraft ◽  
Public Intellectuals ◽  
Feminist Politics ◽  
Late 18Th Century ◽  
Education Of Women ◽  
Political Principles

This chapter focuses on Catherine Macaulay and Mary Wollstonecraft, which are considered to be the two most important women writers on politics and society in late 18th-century England. Both were instrumental in the development of feminist political thought and by the 1790s, ‘Catherine Macaulay and Mary Wollstonecraft had achieved a kind of political articulacy and a degree of public audibility that are central to the emergence of modern feminist politics in Britain’. This was not seen as an area that women should comment on. Both Macaulay and Wollstonecraft showed that women as public intellectuals could defend republican political principles. In addition, both contributed to debates on education and both believed in the same education for women and men. Wollstonecraft argues that the education of women should be about giving them more independence. Similarly, Wollstonecraft maintained that women should work and become independent. As such, Wollstonecraft's feminism can be located in a general trend towards sexual liberation.

The gender politics of ‘bluestocking philosophy’

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Ann Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Women Writers ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Social System ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Gender Politics ◽  
Public Intellectuals ◽  
Public Identity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Single Voice

This chapter discusses the gender politics of ‘bluestocking philosophy’. The idea of a single, unified conceptualization of what constituted a bluestocking and what was understood as a bluestocking philosophy is somewhat misleading, as the idea of a single voice emerging from this group is almost a contradiction in terms. What can be identified is who made up the bluestocking circles and what they aspired to be and to do. Elizabeth Montagu was a central figure in the development of bluestocking circles and, along with Elizabeth Vesey and Frances Boscawen, helped to forge a public identity for women public intellectuals through Montagu's own scholarship as well as her support for other women writers. The early bluestocking circles were not established as a vehicle for promoting equity or women's rights, or even rights of citizenship. However, they played an important role in the second half of the 18th century in entrenching cultural and social transformation into the social system. In addition, they ‘played a crucial role in a widening and defining of women's social roles in the eighteenth century’.

scholarly journals What’s it got to do with the price of bread? Condorcet and Grouchy on freedom and unreasonable laws in commerce

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 432-448
Author(s):  
Sandrine Bergès
Keyword(s):  
Market Economy ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
Defining Moment ◽  
The People ◽  
Late 18Th Century ◽  
History Of ◽  
Economic Ideology

István Hont identified a point in the history of political thought at which republicanism and commercialism became separated. According to Hont, Emmanuel Sieyès proposed that a monarchical republic should be formed. By contrast the Jacobins, in favour of a republic led by the people, rejected not only Sieyès’s political proposal, but also the economic ideology that went with it. Sieyès was in favour of a commercial republic; the Jacobins were not. This was, according to Hont, a defining moment in the history of political thought. In this article, I offer a different analysis of that particular moment in the history of the commercial republic, one that instead of focusing on Sieyès and the Jacobins, looks at the thought of Girondins philosophers Nicolas de Condorcet and Sophie de Grouchy. I argue that their arguments provide sound models for a commercial republic, reconciling late 18th century republican ideals in which virtue was central, with the need for a flourishing and internationally active market economy.

Nature, poetry and medicine in late 18th century England: a unified perspective of Erasmus Darwin

1976 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-537
Author(s):  
M. McNEIL
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Nature Poetry ◽  
Medicine And Philosophy ◽  
Late 18Th Century ◽  
Medical Theory ◽  
Lunar Society Of Birmingham ◽  
Organizational Principles ◽  
Century Science ◽  
Erasmus Darwin

Erasmus Darwin was the focus and embodiment of provincial England in his day. Renowned as a physician, he spent much of his life at Lichfield. He instigated the founding of the Lichfield Botanic Society, which provided the first English translation of the works of Linnaeus, and established a botanic garden; the Lunar Society of Birmingham; the Derby Philosophical Society; and two provincial libraries. A list of Darwin's correspondents and associates reads like a "who's who" of eighteenth century science, industry, medicine and philosophy. His poetry was also well received by his contemporaries and he expounded the evolutionary principles of life. Darwin can be seen as an English equivalent of Lamarck, being a philosopher of nature and human society. His ideas have been linked to a multitude of movements, including the nosological movement in Western medicine, nineteenth century utilitarianism, Romanticism in both Britain and Germany, and associationist psychology. The relationships between various aspects of Darwin's interests and the organizational principles of his writings were examined. His poetical form and medical theory were not peripheral to his study of nature but intrinsically linked in providing his contemporaries with a panorama of nature. A richer, more integrated comprehension of Erasmus Darwin as one of the most significant and representative personalities of his era was presented.

Rediscovering Blackstone: wpływ Williama Blackstone’a na rozwój amerykańskiej nauki prawa w recepcji Alberta W. Alschulera

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-185
Author(s):  
Edyta Sokalska
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Common Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Law School ◽  
Large Measure ◽  
American Colonies ◽  
Late 18Th Century ◽  
American Law ◽  
The Common

The reception of common law in the United States was stimulated by a very popular and influential treatise Commentaries on the Laws of England by Sir William Blackstone, published in the late 18th century. The work of Blackstone strengthened the continued reception of the common law from the American colonies into the constituent states. Because of the large measure of sovereignty of the states, common law had not exactly developed in the same way in every state. Despite the fact that a single common law was originally exported from England to America, a great variety of factors had led to the development of different common law rules in different states. Albert W. Alschuler from University of Chicago Law School is one of the contemporary American professors of law. The part of his works can be assumed as academic historical-legal narrations, especially those concerning Blackstone: Rediscovering Blackstone and Sir William Blackstone and the Shaping of American Law. Alschuler argues that Blackstone’s Commentaries inspired the evolution of American and British law. He introduces not only the profile of William Blackstone, but also examines to which extent the concepts of Blackstone have become the basis for the development of the American legal thought.

Praktiken zur Autonomie

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-204
Author(s):  
Carolin Rocks
Keyword(s):  
Good Life ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Sich Eine ◽  
Moral Norms ◽  
Ethical Practices ◽  
Karl Philipp Moritz ◽  
Late 18Th Century

"Praktiken zur Autonomie Zu Moritz’ Über die bildende Nachahmung des Schönen Karl Philipp Moritz’ Über die bildende Nachahmung des Schönen (1788) gilt als der autonomieästhetischeProgrammtext in der zweiten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts. DerAufsatz stellt diese ästhetikgeschichtliche Klassifikation nicht in Frage, zeigt aber,dass die im Kern unbestreitbar kunstmetaphysische Argumentation über ethischePraktiken begründet wird. Diese Praktiken nehmen in der Arbeit an der Autonomieeinen so entscheidenden Stellenwert ein, dass sich eine heteronomieästhetischeGrundierung der Moritz’schen Kunsttheorie aufweisen lässt. Diese tritt hervor,wenn man den Fokus darauf richtet, wie Ethik und Ästhetik zueinander insVerhältnis gesetzt werden: Moritz verpflichtet die autonome Kunst nicht einfachauf moralische Normen oder soziale Funktionen, modelliert aber den genialenKünstler als Praktiker, als ›Hand-Werker‹, dessen künstlerische Produktivität immerschon einem ›guten Leben‹ zuarbeitet. Der Aufsatz demonstriert, wie Moritz ineinem eigenwilligen Begriffsspiel mit dem Schönen und dem Guten ›Nachahmung‹neu entwirft als auf Moralität zusteuernde ästhetische Praxis. Diese praxeologischeGrundlage der Argumentation wirft zusätzlich ein neues Licht auf Moritz’ Rezeptionneuplatonistischer Philosopheme. Karl Philipp Moritz’s »Über die bildende Nachahmung des Schönen« (1788) is regarded asone of the key texts of autonomous aesthetics from the late 18th century. This article doesnot challenge this classification. Instead, it argues that Moritz’s metaphysics of art is foundedupon ethical practices. These practices are so essential to his conception, that one can show thatit is also based on heteronomous aesthetics. This aspect of his argument emerges from how herelates ethics to aesthetics. Moritz does not simply reduce autonomous art to moral norms orsocial functions. Instead he portrays the ingenious artist as an artisan (›Hand-Werker‹) whoseaesthetic productivity serves a ›good life‹. This article therefore demonstrates how Moritz playswith the concepts of the beauty and the good in order to remodel mimesis as an aesthetic practicethat significantly contributes to morality. Finally, by emphasising this praxeological foundationof Moritz’s argument, one can also reconsider his reception of Neo-Platonism "

Privatpolitik und Aufklärung: Johann Christoph Gottscheds Veröffentlichungsstrategie

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-43
Author(s):  
Nadja Reinhard
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Private Sphere ◽  
Academic Education ◽  
Rhetorical Strategies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Female Authorship ◽  
Education Of Women ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Scientific Integration

Abstract According to Jürgen Habermas, equality amongst those of unequal social standing in 18th-century society was limited to the private sphere. Though Gottsched shows how to use this sphere strategically for private policy and cooperation, he knows how to modify his publication strategies wisely in order to achieve the greatest and best possible effectiveness in his attempt to popularise Enlightenment. By his Moralische Wochenschriften as well as by his more popular way of academic writing for students he spreads controversial ideas such as theoretical and practical reason’s primacy over theologic argumentations, the academic education of women, or female authorship. Yet, he does so prudently and expertly uses the opportunities offered by publishing anonymously or under a pseudonym to support scientific integration of women. Gottsched relied upon a variety of rhetorical strategies to introduce controversial ideas to the broader public without embracing them openly. Employing different strategies of publication, he pursued his agenda as a moral educator, promoted emancipation from religious authorities, and advanced his own brand of cultural nationalism in order to unfold and popularise the German literary tradition. He thus significantly contributed to the structural transformation of the public sphere as described by Heinrich Bosse.

The Portrayal of Islam in Some Early Nigerian Newspapers (1880-1910)

1989 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-328
Author(s):  
Salahudeen Yusuf
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Religious Conflict ◽  
Intellectual Honesty ◽  
The People ◽  
Late 18Th Century ◽  
The Press ◽  
External Threat ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Impact

The history of Islam in part of what is known today as Nigeria datesto about the loth Century. Christianity dates to the late 18th Century. Bythe middle of the 19th Century, when Nigerian newspapers began to appearon the streets of Nigeria, both religions had won so many followers and extendedto so many places in Nigeria that very few areas were untouched bytheir influence. The impact of both religions on their adherents not only determinedtheir spiritual life, but influenced their social and political lives aswell. It therefore became inevitable that both religions receive coverage frommost of the newspapers of the time. How the newspapers as media of informationand communication reported issues about the two religions is thetheme of this paper.Rationale for the StudyThe purpose of this study is to highlight the context in which such earlynewspapers operated and the factors that dictated their performance. Thisis because it is assumed that when a society faces external threat to its territory,culture, and independence, all hands (the press inclusive) ought tobe on deck to resist the threat with all might. Were newspapers used as verbalartillery and how did they present each religion? It is also assumed thatin a multireligious society a true press should be objective and serve as avanguard in the promotion of the interest of the people in general and notcreate or foster an atmosphere of religious conflict. The study also aims atfinding out whether the papers promoted intellectual honesty and fosteredthe spirit of unity particularly when the society was faced with the encroachmentof the British who posed a threat to their freedom, culture, economy ...

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document