Mary Wollstonecraft, answered from the texts and cited to the page.
I will answer in the first person, since it is my own conviction you ask after. Education is the whole matter. The weakness men call feminine is the effect of a system, and I would have that system exploded. What I ask of education is that it exercise the understanding so as to strengthen the body and form the heart, and so enable the individual to attain habits of virtue that will render it independent.1
It is a farce to call any being virtuous whose virtues do not result from the exercise of its own reason.2 Rousseau thought so of men, and I extend the opinion to women. Every being may become virtuous by exercising its own reason; if it were otherwise, if one creature were made positively vicious, what could save us from atheism, or keep the God we worship from being a devil?3
Against this I set the books that have governed girls' schooling, from Rousseau to Dr. Gregory. My objection reaches the whole purport of them, because they render women pleasing at the expense of every solid virtue and so make them weaker, more artificial and more useless members of society.4 Dr. Fordyce's sermons I should dismiss from a pupil's library if I wished to strengthen her understanding.
His mellifluous style melts every human quality into female weakness and artificial grace, and I call it artificial because true grace arises from some independence of mind.5 Rousseau's Sophia is captivating, but it is the foundation of her character, the principles on which her education was built, that I attack.6 He would have girls naturally coquettes, and I find that supposition so unphilosophical that he would not have adopted it, had he not been accustomed to let reason give way to a favourite paradox.7
The stakes are plain. Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience; and tyrants and sensualists are right to keep women in the dark, since the one wants slaves and the other a plaything.8 Women must be considered either as moral beings, or as so weak that they must be entirely subjected to the superior faculties of men.9
I do not promise that virtue is rewarded in fortune. Education does not bring a woman a hero in the shape of a husband; its reward is confined to her own bosom.10 But it makes her a creature who can stand like the oak, which braves the storm for ages, where the reed is shaken by every breeze. Let the practice of every duty be subordinate to the grand one of improving our minds and preparing our affections for a more exalted state.11
the most perfect education, in my opinion, is such an exercise of the understanding as is best calculated to strengthen the body and form the heart; or, in other words, to enable the individual to attain such habits of virtue as will render it independent.A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
it is a farce to call any being virtuous whose virtues do not result from the exercise of its own reason. This was Rousseau's opinion respecting men: I extend it to womenA Vindication of the Rights of Woman
every being may become virtuous by the exercise of its own reason; for if but one being was created with vicious inclinations--that is, positively bad-- what can save us from atheism? or if we worship a God, is not that God a devil?A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
my objection extends to the whole purport of those books, which tend, in my opinion, to degrade one half of the human species, and render women pleasing at the expense of every solid virtue.A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
melting every human quality into female weakness and artificial grace. I say artificial, for true grace arises from some kind of independence of mind.A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
it is not the superstructure, but the foundation of her character, the principles on which her education was built, that I mean to attackA Vindication of the Rights of Woman
The absurdity, in short, of supposing that a girl is naturally a coquette... is so unphilosophical, that such a sagacious observer as Rousseau would not have adopted it, if he had not been accustomed to make reason give way to his desire of singularityA Vindication of the Rights of Woman
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 endeavour to keep women in the darkA Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Women are, therefore, to be considered either as moral beings, or so weak that they must be entirely subjected to the superior faculties of men.A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
the reward which virtue promises to her votaries is confined, it is clear, to their own bosomsA Vindication of the Rights of Woman
let the practice of every duty be subordinate to the grand one of improving our minds, and preparing our affections for a more exalted state!A Vindication of the Rights of Woman