"The First of a New Genus": Mary Wollstonecraft, Reason, and Revolution

In this episode of pplpod, we explore the tumultuous life and enduring legacy of Mary Wollstonecraft, the 18th-century writer and philosopher who declared her ambition to become "the first of a new genus". Regarded today as a founding feminist philosopher, Wollstonecraft is best known for her groundbreaking 1792 treatise, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. We discuss her central argument that women are not naturally inferior to men, but only appear so because they have been denied education, and her vision of a social order founded entirely on reason.

Join us as we trace her journey from a difficult childhood—where she often protected her mother from a violent, squandering father—to her immersion in the political upheaval of the French Revolution. We examine her "unorthodox lifestyle," including her ill-fated affair with American adventurer Gilbert Imlay, which resulted in the birth of her first daughter, Fanny, and two suicide attempts following his betrayal.

Finally, we cover her relationship with the philosopher William Godwin and her tragic death at age 38, just days after giving birth to her second daughter, Mary Shelley, who would go on to write Frankenstein. Tune in to learn how Godwin's scandalous Memoirs inadvertently destroyed her reputation for a century, and how the rise of the modern feminist movement eventually restored her place in history.