Mary Astell

Mary Astell was an English philosopher and writer from Newcastle upon Tyne who settled in Chelsea, London. Drawing on Cartesian ideas and the Christian Platonism of John Norris, she argued that women are rational beings capable of the same intellectual life as men and are owed a serious education. In Some Reflections upon Marriage she criticised the subordination of wives as a matter of custom rather than nature. She is often counted among the earliest English feminist philosophers.

Key ideas

• Women have rational souls equal to men's, so their lack of learning is due to poor education, not nature.
• She proposed a retreat or academic community where women could pursue study and devotion.
• Subordination within marriage is a product of custom and power, not natural inferiority.
• She pressed the inconsistency of defending liberty against absolute rule in the state while accepting it in the household.

Major works

• A Serious Proposal to the Ladies (1694; Part II, 1697)
• Letters Concerning the Love of God (1695, with John Norris)
• Some Reflections upon Marriage (1700)
• The Christian Religion, as Professed by a Daughter of the Church of England (1705)

In the conversation

• Reading group Reading group: Christine de Pizan and Mary Astell, two arguments from reason three centuries apart Valentina Ríos · 5 replies
• Discussion Rights by consistency: Sor Juana, Astell and Wollstonecraft on the same argument Valentina Ríos · 4 replies