Preview

Non-Essentialism In Feminist Ethics By Mary Wollstonecraft

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2010 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Non-Essentialism In Feminist Ethics By Mary Wollstonecraft
Non-Essentialism in Feminist Ethics Women in history have been overpowered, and oppressed by their male counterparts for thousands of years. Men have believed that women have particular universal, human traits that make them the inferior sex. However, there are women such as de Beauvoir and Wollstonecraft that are fighting for their right of equality. In this essay, I will argue that essentialism has tyrannized women, and has placed them as the subordinate group behind men. I will be analyzing the differences between Wollstonecraft and de Beauvoir versus Nietzsche in order to argue against essentialism, and develop a proper ethical theory of existentialism.
Mary Wollstonecraft is an eighteenth century British writer and philosopher and …show more content…
Making this world a better place involves getting rid of essentialism, and looking rationally at every individual. In her book Wollstonecraft says, “women are almost sunk below the standard of rational creatures. Let their faculties have room to unfold, and their virtues to gain strength, and then determine where the whole sex must stand in the intellectual scale” (37). Men have not given women the proper chance to prove themselves equal to men because even today they are still being oppressed to be inferior to men. Women are just as intellectual as men and just as rational. We must think to ourselves, what exactly is ethical and moral? Giving certain characteristics to individuals or women because they belong to a specific group does not sound very moral to me. What is moral is allowing women same equal rights as every other man on this planet, and to not view them as objects for male entertainment. De Beauvoir argues for existentialism and I absolutely agree with her. In order for one to truly develop an ethical theory, then he or she must experience the life of that person. But the problem with existentialism is that it can only apply to people that are similar to you or are in your so-called group. Men will never develop a perfect ethical theory for women, because they cannot experience their lives. Only women can develop a proper ethical theory and then we as a society can implement this theory into the community. Existentialism is the proper way to develop an ethical, moral theory, however, it can only be developed if people from different groups work together in order create this theory. Essential traits cannot be developed because the experience of life is different for every single
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Radical Feminist Theoretical Analysis
    • 197 Words
    • 1 Page

    Radical Feminist Theoretical Analysis

    Within the parameters of this essay, I will explore the extent of the patriarchal society’s ability to apply hegemony in advertisements, shaping women’s subjectivities in order to reassert male dominance and female subordination. Radical feminist theory defines patriarchy as “a system of structures, institutions and ideology created by men in order to sustain and recreate male power and female subordination, ” located within a system of knowledge and language which constructs both masculinity and femininity in support of the establish power imbalance (Rowland & Klein, 1996, p.15-16). Through the application of the radical feminist theory, I argue that the hyper sexualized, unattainable and sexist beauty standards imposed on women by the patriarchy…

    • 197 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman
    • 374 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman

    Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, with on Political and Moral Subjects (also known simply as A Vindication of the Rights of women) is thought by many to be the real beginning of feminism. This is considered to be the first written example of feminist ideas. However, before Wollstonecraft, others had written about the need for more women’s rights. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is the first complete statement about the necessity for women to be taught and educated, and for a mutual agreement of gender differences. Wollstonecraft’s first and foremost concern is certainly the education of women. Wollstonecraft tells us from the very beginning that our greatest gift is our capability to use reasoning. Since males…

    • 374 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication Of The Rights Of Women
    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Analysis Of Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication Of The Rights Of Women

    “I wish to persuade women to endeavor to acquire strength, both of mind and body” (par 1). With one quote, Mary Wollstonecraft summarized her purpose for writing, “A Vindication of the Rights of Women”, by persuasively using rhetorical appeals, modes of discourse, and rhetorical devices to argue why women should better themselves.…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Howard Zinn The Patriarchy Of Women
    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Howard Zinn The Patriarchy Of Women

    Therefore, women were at their own faults but what worse were the men who used women’s untainted acceptance and belief as a chance to treat them as properties of theirs. In this research, how groups in society had encouraged the treatment of women as inferior and how women from different backgrounds had later resisted and rebelled against the ideal men and society had expected them to…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Review Of Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication Of The Rights Of Women
    • 134 Words
    • 1 Page

    Review Of Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication Of The Rights Of Women

    In Mary Wollstonecraft’s 1792 essay “A Vindication of the Rights of Women”, she advocates for equal rights for women. She criticizes that male dominance shadows the right of women.…

    • 134 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication Of The Rights Of Women
    • 1735 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication Of The Rights Of Women

    Used as a ploy to disempower, oppressor’s purposefully hinder social equality, causing the perceived advantage to become a liability through control of the oppressed. In A Vindication of the Rights of Women, men explicitly maintain suppression through knowingly placing value within teaching women sensibility rather than academic education. Ironically enough, however; “‘Educate women like men,’ says Rousseau, ‘and the more they resemble our sex the less power they will have over us.’” (Wollstonecraft 179). If a woman were to be educated like a man, she would lose her blind faith in sensibility, the ignorance of her delicacy as she gained the ability to discern truth. This would disintegrate the perceived advantage of sensibility, yes, reducing some aspect of perceived power, but be providing her with a much more substantial kind of competence. Empowered by both intellect and sensuality in society, rather than just the latter, a woman would hold real power over men, rather than just physical attractiveness. This would mean that a man, in direct comparison, would “lose” societal privilege to manipulate and release his status as a superior and oppressor. The perceived advantage of sensibility becomes a liability for women’s equality because of men’s fear of losing the idea that “a king is always a king— and a woman always a woman.”(Wollstonecraft…

    • 1735 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Women's Perspective
    • 348 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Women's Perspective

    The very concept of ‘woman’, de Beauvoir argues, “is a male concept: woman is always ‘other’ because the male is the ‘seer’: he is the subject and she the object – the meaning of what it is to be a woman is given by men.” A woman can be known as high the CEO of a company or in other words “the other”, and be the only woman in the midst of a majority of men. Yet, does she receive the respect, an attentiveness from “the seer” or a man that she should for obtaining a high position of authority? No, because a man will always think of her as a minority, a woman, and a man only subjected to her assets or her physical appearance. As a woman with only men in the majority ,…

    • 348 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Feminist Theory Response Paper
    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Feminist Theory Response Paper

    Two possible theories explaining child maltreatment are the feminist theory and the choice theory of crime. First, a brief review provides each theory an avenue to explaining how it relates to the crime. Next, a discussion of both theories includes forming potential criminal justice responses. Finally, actual criminal justice system responses are examined providing insight into how the implantations relate to the theories given.…

    • 510 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Enlightenment Outline
    • 358 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Enlightenment Outline

    Mary Wollstonecraft – “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” – believed that women weren’t naturally inferior to men, but lacked education.…

    • 358 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Response to “Emile” Written by Rousseau
    • 2563 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Response to “Emile” Written by Rousseau

    Mary Wollstonecraft was an inspiration and an enormous impact in the women’s rights movement in the 19th and 20th centuries. She led and guided the way for countless feminists as her life progressed. By having such a strong, powerful voice on her opinion and views of the rights of women, she pioneered the fight for equality between man and woman. Mary Wollstonecraft wrote and published “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” in 1792 as a declaration of woman’s civil liberties to equality of education and to civil opportunities. She had written her assertion of equality in response to numerous works that focused on female conduct and women’s education that was written by men whom lived during the late 18th century. Enlightenment thinker Jean-Jacques Rousseau, composer of the famous “Emile”, is recognized to be the most well-known and significant influences that triggered Wollstonecraft to respond by constructing her periodical of justice. Mary’s creation of “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman” was nearly direct criticism towards the beliefs of Rousseau, and she argues firm illustrating her will for freedom, equality and no limitations.…

    • 2563 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Mary Wollstonecraft
    • 970 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Mary Wollstonecraft

    In Wollstonecraft’s essay, her thesis is about how women are not living up to their potential; they should try and be more complex in life. In her essay, Wollstonecraft talks about how women should have equal opportunities in education. Wollstonecraft encourages women of all times to stand up for themselves. Wollstonecraft mainly talks about how women should empower themselves by taking a stand and go beyond the expectations that is expected of women. She talks about how women should obtain a persona that is stronger than a child. Wollstonecraft gave a statement that should be given great comprehension, which states, “…viewing them as if they were in a state perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone.”(257). In this statement, she mainly talks about how women act weak and that men encourage it by treating women like they are helpless creatures. She talks about how women and men are and should be equal in all aspects of life. Granted that there are a few things that men can do better than women, but it does not necessarily mean that men are all powerful. Wollstonecraft wants women to improve on themselves for the sake of future generations of women to come. Her plan is for the…

    • 970 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Feminism In The 1920s Essay
    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Feminism In The 1920s Essay

    The 1920s was the beginning of modern America; many aspects that we value in America were beginning to change and form. One of these substantial changes was our views of women. While they had many protestors towards their movement, they began to develop and change the idea of femininity and their role in society. Women had been considered the caretakers and homemakers of the past, and many believed in the new prospect of feminism. Feminism of the 1920s is the belief that women should have all of the opportunities that men had; the pursuit of happiness and pleasure in all stages of life. Many of the women of this age embraced this concept and ran with it, creating the “new women” of the 1920s.…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Gender Equality During Enlightenment
    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Gender Equality During Enlightenment

    Mary Wollstonecraft was a feminist in England during the Enlightenment. She published A Vindication to Rights of Women in 1791, post Revolution. In her writing she explains women in her time are denied their potential in society. For example she states the neglect of girls’ education. She believes women should have equal education to men. Wollstonecraft also details the various ways in which women are subordinate. To support this she states they are taught that their looks are of supreme concern, and they tend to cultivate weakness. She goes on explaining how women are “helpless adornments” in their society. Wollstonecraft theorizes women’s lack of rights stem from their low status in society and insufficient education.…

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Kant and the Autonomous Individual
    • 1564 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Kant and the Autonomous Individual

    My purpose in this essay is to provide evidence that freedom and autonomy are linked, as well as subjectivity and morality. This essay will also show why existentialism is the only medium sufficient enough to obtain these ideals. This evidence will be provided through the works of Sartre and De Beauvoir, and will give us a basis to discuss why freedom cannot exist without an individual first being autonomous, as well as why subjectivity is necessary to form a correct moral code. Objections to this form will also be discussed and refuted. Within De Beauvoir’s introduction to her book The Second Sex, she introduces a very important question: “what is a woman?” This question is important to our link between freedom and autonomy because in order for an individual to be self-sustaining and free, the individual must first be defined and be known to exist. De Beauvoir proposes a few explanations as to what a woman is and why these definitions fail: a woman is a womb, women must be feminine, biological femininity and other definitions of the like. These definitions fail because, as De Beauvoir explains, what if a woman does not use her womb? What about women who are not feminine, and how is feminine defined? These definitions instantly become self-defeating, and De Beauvoir moves to another practical definition of woman: woman is defined as the man’s Other. The Other that De Beauvoir speaks of may seem to be detrimental to the goals of a feminist project, but all of these projects are forced to start from the position that men have power. Because the woman is defined as “the sex,” she is defined as the Other. She is apart from the man, and she cannot think of herself without man like man can think of himself without woman. This duality is what creates the Self and the Other. Women do not pursue a subjective attitude as they refer to themselves as “woman,” not as “we.” Those who wish to grant women “equality and difference” as “the Other sex” are inherently acknowledging…

    • 1564 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Existentialism In The Second Sex
    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Existentialism In The Second Sex

    Throughout the themes in phenomenological existentialism, Beauvoir and Young both show why women have been treated as the less valuable sex. These concepts constantly interact with each other on many levels, and both authors believe that gender roles assigned by society are to blame. Through the analysis of both documents, we are able to more clearly understand why the relationship between men and women is the way it is, and how challenging it is for women to achieve liberation from the immanence they are placed in by men and society as a…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics