Mary Wollstonecraft(MW) and David Hume(DH) converse over the risks of progressive thought.
MW: David Hume—man of reason—you must, by nature, despise the durability of antiquated notions by church and state.
DH: No: “Tis impossible for the mind to fix itself steadily upon one idea for any considerable time; nor can it by its utmost efforts ever arrive at such a constancy. But however changeable our thoughts may be, they are not entirely without rule and method in their changes” (Mossner 402).
MW: Change, no, independence will come someday to all free thinkers. But, must we hide the power of our thoughts or risk becoming a refugee like Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Edmonds and Eidinow 3)? Do our words so threaten, they alone arouse such intense opposition?
DH: “We must, therefore, proceed like those, who being in search of anything which lies conceal’d from them… beat about all the neighboring fields, without any certain view or design, in hopes their good fortune will at last guide them to what they search for (Mossner 125).
MW: I long for a New Age where my work can and will overshadow my personal life. The paths I walked are less important than the inspiration they endowed my works to transcend (Brody 136).
Works Cited
Mossner, Earnest C., ed. A Treatise of Human Nature: David Hume. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1969.
Edmonds, David, and John Eidinow. Rousseau’s Dog: Two Great Thinkers at War in the Age of Enlightenment. New York: HarperCollins, 2006.
Brody, Miriam, ed. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: Mary Wollstonecraft. Ney York: Penguin Books, 1992.
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