John Wilkes
- Advocate of civil liberty.
- Mayor of London and MP.
- Forced into excile numorous times.
- Critic of the powerful - loved by the lower class.
- Attacked the government in paper 'the North Briton.'
- King + government tried everything to get rid of Wilkes, including paying him off, lawsuits, and assasinations.
- Called the king a liar, and was arrested.
- Re-elected to parliament from prison, but the house voted him incapable.
- Eleced mayor of London soon after.
Mary Wollstonecraft
- Difficult upbringing - drunken and violent father.
- Became obsessed with education - first publication: 'Thoughts on the education of daughters'
- Argued education of women was superficial. Did not equip women with independence of thought and judegment.
- Similiar belief to Locke - born with blank slate which is moulded by education. Education correctly creates rational, responsible citizens.
- Set up a school in Stoke Newington.
- Fascinated by Rousseau.
- Went against Edmund Burke who stated 'society is built on tradition, to rip it all up and start again is a recipe for disaster.'
- Responded to this by writing 'Vindication of the rights of men.' In this she claimed that education reinforces gender roles and that women should take control of their own destiny.
- Believed women + men should just all be seen as humans.
- Very unpopular until end of the 19th century.
Liberty
- Began as an attempt to limit powers of government and give authority to individuals.
- Prize freedom over equality.
- Believe there should be a seperation from church and state (promote secularisation).
J. S. Mills
- Thrown in jail at 17 for distributing literature on contraception.
- Introduced first bill to allow women the right to a vote.
- By 16 was probably the most educated person in Europe.
- Believed freedom of speech is absolute, and that an opinion should never be silenced no matter how much you disagree.
- Felt the majority can be wrong.
- Quoted as saying "one persons taste is his own particular concern."
- And "genius can only breathe freely in atmosphere of freedom."
- Society should not interfere with peoples "choices of pleasure" as long as no one else is harmed.
- Thought all children should be educated, and nobody has the right to keep another from an education.
Utilitarianism
- Bentham believed you should try and produce happinnes.
- Mills believed if women were inferior, then why should the need to make laws to keep women in subjection? If women are incapable, why forbid them?
- Three ways to overlook consequence:
- Act
- Moral Rules
- Disposition
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