Mary Astell

by Patricia Springborg

"Philosopher, theologian, educational theorist, feminist and political pamphleteer, Many Astell was an important figure in the history of ideas of the early modern period. She contributed to the British debate over toleration and dissent from the 1690s, which inaugurated the modern secular state. Among the first systematic critics of John Locke's entire corpus, she is best known for the famous question that prefaces her Reflections on Marriage: 'If all men are born free, how is it that all women are born slaves?' She is claimed by modern Republican theorists and feminists alike, but as she is a High Church Tory, the peculiar constellation of her views sits uneasily with modern commentators. Patricia Springborg's study addresses these apparent paradoxes and recovers the historical and philosophical contexts for her thought. She shows that Astell was not alone in her views: rather, she belonged to a cohort of early modern female philosophers who were important for the reception of Locke