Two Early Modern Models of Thought on Women’s Minds and Education

Karen Detlefsen (University of Pennsylvania, )

In this paper, I examine two early modern women’s approach to women, their minds and education, and their self-knowledge. Mary Astell is a seventeenth-century thinker who grounds many of her claims in theological commitments. Emilie Du Châtelet is an eighteenth century thinkers whose theological commitments are considerably weaker, and as a consequence, her approach to the nest of topics identified is notably divergent from Astell’s. In particular, Du Châtelet’s disengaging her thoughts on these subjects from a strong theological underpinning opens up for her possibilities for greater activism against social norms that are detrimental to women and their happiness, even while Astell’s approach allows her to claim greater certainty in the belief that women and men are naturally equal, and thus deserve equal educational goods.