ABSTRACT
Political exclusion is, ipso facto, moral exclusion. This chapter discusses various aspects of the interplay between political and moral situation, between acting politically and acting morally. A point upon which Mary Wollstonecraft consistently insists, and which is a central element in her theory of liberty, is that persons who live in a situation of social and political subordination, finding themselves circumscribed by others upon whose arbitrary good graces they depend, are likely to fail to develop moral independence, or independence of mind. The chapter identifies three features of moral agency in Wollstonecraft’s works; these are respect for mankind as a principle of action, the internal intellectual pursuit of reason and virtue, and the activity consisting in making free use of one’s own person. Wollstonecraft articulates detailed complaints about the sorry state of society and strong convictions about the causes of it, and one might expect equally detailed articulations of rules of conduct or practical principles for the guidance of behaviour.
