ABSTRACT
The early modern period was pivotal in our contemporary understanding of the state. As absolute monarchy and principles of heredity gave way to constitutional and representative forms of government, the political conflicts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries have given us a canon of familiar writers whose names and ideas dominate introductory texts and courses on the history of political philosophy. As so often in the history of philosophy, no women are included in this list – this is both misleading and a detriment to the discipline. Women not only took an active and prominent part in these debates, but their ideas remain applicable today. In this chapter, the author examines how women’s perspectives can come subtly to alter the scope and focus of some of the fundamental political concepts that we use. By grappling first with the foundational principles of the state, we can then see more clearly what is at stake in considering women’s relationship with the state and what it should become. This chapter focuses primarily on Catharine Macaulay (1731–1791), who developed an extensive and fully developed political philosophy and paved the way for later feminist philosophers, most notably Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797).
