Mary Wollstonecraft with Sylvana Tomaselli

In this episode, Juliette Marchant is joined by Sylvana Tomaselli, Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge, and a leading scholar of the history of political thought to discuss the work of Mary Wollstonecraft: writer, philosopher, and a bold critic of the social and political conventions of her time.Together, Tomaselli and Marchant explore what makes Wollstonecraft’s work so striking and enduring: her arguments for women’s education, her critique of inequality and dependency, and her insistence that reason and virtue—not custom or hierarchy—should shape human life. From A Vindication of the Rights of Woman to her reflections on revolution, the conversation highlights Wollstonecraft as a thinker who challenged the assumptions of her age and offered a powerful account of freedom, independence, and moral responsibility.Texts Referenced in the Episode:Wollstonecraft: Philosophy, Passion, and Politics - Sylvana TomaselliWollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Men and a Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Hints - Edited by Sylvana TomaselliA Vindication of the Rights of Woman - Mary WollstonecraftThe Collected Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft - Mary Wollstonecraft edited by Janet ToddReflections on the Revolution in France - Edmund BurkeEmile or On Education - Jean-Jacques Rousseau