Chapter 15 (pp. 740-752)

Chapter 15 (pg.  740-752 )

Chapter 15 focuses on the cultural changes that occurred within the modernizing time and this section focuses primarily on the changes that became known as modern science. One of the much discussed topics at this time was women. Society had begun to question women's nature, their role in society, and the appropriate education to be offered to them. Jean-Jacque Rousseau was quoted as saying that he believed were not only fundamentally different from men but also inferior to them. He also believed that the education offered to women should be wholly relative to men. This is interesting because at this time it was wealthy Parisian women who hosted gatherings for male Enlightenment thinkers yet, few, if any of them were feminists. The British writer Mary Wolllstonecraft rebutted Rousseau's remarks by calling the utter nonsense and stating that until women are rationally educated then the progress in human virtue and knowledge would need to constantly be checked. It is just interesting that in this age of great philosophical progress and growth that women were still viewed as less than their male counterparts.