Yet the lack of public knowledge today surrounding Ireland’s most prominent political philosopher is strange. Associate professor in the history of ideas at UCD School of Philosophy, she says Wollstonecraft initially attacked Burke on the grounds that he was “too womanly”. Can you describe the general reaction to Burke’s open letter Reflections on the Revolution in France in 1790? The initial weeks and months of the French Revolution were largely cheered on by their longstanding ‘frenemies’ across the channel. “Wollstonecraft’s attack on Burke becomes the launch pad for a tract that set the liberal feminist agenda for generations.

Source: The Irish Times May 22, 2018 14:15 UTC