{"product_id":"2940014637879","title":"MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT GREATEST WORKS [Authoritative and Unabridged NOOK Edition] The Bestselling Works by Mary Wollstonecraft Incl. A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN MARY, A FICTION MARIA OR THE WRONGS OF WOMAN \u0026 MORE! (NOOKBook Feminist Classics)","description":"MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT GREATEST WORKS \u003cbr\u003e[Authoritative and Unabridged NOOK Edition] \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Bestselling Works by Mary Wollstonecraft \u003cbr\u003eIncl. A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN | MARY, A FICTION | MARIA OR THE WRONGS OF WOMAN \u0026amp; MORE!  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e(NOOKBook Feminist Classics)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEXCERPT\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"In the present state of society it appears necessary to go back to first principles in search of the most simple truths, and to dispute with some prevailing prejudice every inch of ground. To clear my way, I must be allowed to ask some plain questions, and the answers will probably appear as unequivocal as the axioms on which reasoning is built; though, when entangled with various motives of action, they are formally contradicted, either by the words or conduct of men.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  In what does man’s pre-eminence over the brute creation consist? The answer is as clear as that a half is less than the whole; in Reason.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  What acquirement exalts one being above another? Virtue; we spontaneously reply.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  For what purpose were the passions implanted? That man by struggling with them might attain a degree of knowledge denied to the brutes; whispers Experience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Consequently the perfection of our nature and capability of happiness, must be estimated by the degree of reason, virtue, and knowledge, that distinguish the individual, and direct the laws which bind society: and that from the exercise of reason, knowledge and virtue naturally flow, is equally undeniable, if mankind be viewed collectively.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  The rights and duties of man thus simplified, it seems almost impertinent to attempt to illustrate truths that appear so incontrovertible; yet such deeply rooted prejudices have clouded reason, and such spurious qualities have assumed the name of virtues, that it is necessary to pursue the course of reason as it has been perplexed and involved in error, by various adventitious circumstances, comparing the simple axiom with casual deviations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Men, in general, seem to employ their reason to justify prejudices, which they have imbibed, they can scarcely trace how, rather than to root them out. The mind must be strong that resolutely forms its own principles; for a kind of intellectual cowardice prevails which makes many men shrink from the task, or only do it by halves. Yet the imperfect conclusions thus drawn, are frequently very plausible, because they are built on partial experience, on just, though narrow, views.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  Going back to first principles, vice skulks, with all its native deformity, from close investigation; but a set of shallow reasoners are always exclaiming that these arguments prove too much, and that a measure rotten at the core may be expedient. Thus expediency is continually contrasted with simple principles, till truth is lost in a mist of words, virtue, in forms, and knowledge rendered a sounding nothing, by the specious prejudices that assume its name.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  That the society is formed in the wisest manner, whose constitution is founded on the nature of man, strikes, in the abstract, every thinking being so forcibly, that it looks like presumption to endeavour to bring forward proofs; though proof must be brought, or the strong hold of prescription will never be forced by reason; yet to urge prescription as an argument to justify the depriving men (or women) of their natural rights, is one of the absurd sophisms which daily insult common sense.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTABLE OF CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMARY, A FICTION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN \u003cbr\u003e(WITH STRICTURES ON POLITICAL AND MORAL SUBJECTS)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLETTERS WRITTEN DURING A SHORT RESIDENCE IN SWEDEN, NORWAY AND DENMARK\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMARIA\u003cbr\u003eOR THE WRONGS OF WOMAN","brand":"The Complete Works Collection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47146089480432,"sku":"2940014637879","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014637879_p0.jpg?v=1763612761","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014637879","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}