Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797), the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, was a moral and political philosopher who also wrote novels, educational treatises, and reflections on the French Revolution. Wollstonecraft supported Enlightenment…
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Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
Talleyrand-Périgord (1754-1838) was a longstanding French diplomat and politician. In 1791, he submitted his Rapport sur l'instruction publique (Report on Public Education) to the French National Assembly as part of the process of revising the…
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Rousseau (1712-1778) was a prominent Enlightenment philosopher whose writings influenced the French Revolution and had a longstanding impact on political thought in general, as well as modern views of human nature. His 1762 treatise, Emile,…
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Dr. John Gregory
Gregory (1724-1773) was a Scottish Enlightenment physician and moralist. His book A Father’s Legacy to His Daughters (1774) was written in honor of his late wife and was only intended for family use, but his…
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James Fordyce
Fordyce (1720-1796) was a Scottish Presbyterian minister who was popular in London in the 1760s and 1770s, known especially for his rhetorical skill and emphasis on topics relevant to daily life. He is best known…
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Minor Characters
John Milton
Milton (1608-1674) was an English poet best known for the epic Paradise Lost (1667). Wollstonecraft criticizes Milton’s characterization of Eve in the poem and its implications about women in general.
