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About 1 h 40 min to read.A chi è rivolto
For readers who love political thought and the history of the French Revolution, and anyone curious about the roots of modern feminism and human rights.
Che cos’è questo libro
A Vindication of the Rights of Men is a political pamphlet by Mary Wollstonecraft, published in London in November 1790. She wrote it, in answer to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, which had appeared only days before. Her publisher, Joseph Johnson, brought it out without her name at first. It was one of the first replies to Burke, and it made her known as a writer on public affairs.
Burke had attacked the French Revolution and the English thinkers who welcomed it, above all the minister Dr. Price. Wollstonecraft takes the other side. She argues that rights come from reason and from God, not from rank, custom or inheritance. Her first target is the idea that old things are good because they are old.
In questo riassunto
- 1A fast reply to Burke's alarmFree
- 2Rights come from reason, not inheritance
- 3Property and rank shield injustice
- 4Feeling without justice is only a show
- 5Burke's style hides weak argument
- 6Why the pamphlet still matters
Punto chiave 1 di 6
A fast reply to Burke's alarm
To follow Wollstonecraft, you need to know what she is answering. Edmund Burke was a respected member of Parliament who had once spoken up for the American colonists. In his Reflections he warned that the French were tearing down their old order and putting abstract theory in its place. He praised the English constitution as an inheritance handed down from the past.
Wollstonecraft was about thirty-one and was not yet famous. She was shocked that Burke, once a friend of liberty as she saw it, now seemed to mock it. She also took personal offence at the way he treated Richard Price, a minister she admired, whose sermon had set Burke off.
Her pamphlet is written in haste and it shows. It does not follow Burke page by page, and it wanders between argument, sarcasm and appeals to conscience. The heat is part of her method, because she believes the questions are moral, not just political.
She also sets out what she thinks is at stake. For her the issue is not whether France is wise in every detail. It is whether human beings may be ruled by habit and privilege forever, or may judge their rulers by reason.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
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Go deeper: the whole of Una rivendicazione dei diritti degli uomini
About 1 h 40 min to read.About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 25,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 1 h 40 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 10 other languages
Questions about Una rivendicazione dei diritti degli uomini
What is A Vindication of the Rights of Men about?
It is a reply to Edmund Burke's attack on the French Revolution. Wollstonecraft argues that rights come from reason, not from tradition or rank, and she criticizes inherited privilege, the worship of property and Burke's showy feeling for the French queen.
Why did Mary Wollstonecraft write it?
She wrote it in late 1790 after Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France appeared. She disliked his defense of rank and custom and his scorn for Richard Price, and she wanted to answer him.
Is it the same as A Vindication of the Rights of Woman?
No. The Rights of Men came first, in 1790, and answers Burke. The Rights of Woman followed in 1792 and applies similar ideas about reason and dependence to the education and place of women.
Who was Edmund Burke and what did he argue?
Burke was an Irish-born British politician and writer.
Is A Vindication of the Rights of Men hard to read?
No. It starts with a simple setup: Wollstonecraft is answering Edmund Burke, and she often speaks straight to him as if he stood in front of her. Her case comes in clear steps, beginning with one idea, that rights come from reason, not age.