The social contract tradition

Abstract

This chapter examines Mary Wollstonecraft’s engagement with the social contract tradition. Wollstonecraft was introduced to social contract theorists, such as John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as a teenager. As a young woman, Wollstonecraft moved in the circles of Great Britain’s radical Dissenters. She gained a deeper understanding of the social contract tradition from her friend and mentor, Dr. Richard Price, and seemingly relies on the social contract tradition in A Vindication of the Rights of Man when defending the people’s right to establish and to change their government. However, when Wollstonecraft takes up her pen to write A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Wollstonecraft does not draw on the tenets of the social contract tradition. Instead, Wollstonecraft returns to “first principles” that resonate with Aristotle’s political philosophy. She argues that women must be educated to fortify their reason and to cultivate their virtue. By doing so, women will fulfill their end or telos as human beings, mothers, wives, and citizens.