Astell: Political Writings - Paperback

by Mary Astell (Author), Patricia Springborg (Editor), Raymond Geuss (Editor)

The writings of the High Church Tory pamphleteer Mary Astell (1666-1731) are a remarkable contribution to the constitutional debates that ushered in the modern democratic state. An interlocutor with Swift and Defoe, Astell was perhaps the first systematic critic of Locke's writings. Astell's political pamphlets Reflections upon Marriage, A Fair Way with the Dissenters, and An Impartial Enquiry into the Origins of Rebellion have never been reprinted in their entirety. This new edition makes accessible the major works of an important political theorist.

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The writings of the High Church Tory pamphleteer Mary Astell (1666-1731) are a remarkable and underestimated contribution to the constitutional debates which ushered in the modern literal democratic state. Astell was perhaps the first systematic critic of Locke's entire corpus, something which has been overlooked in the considerable literature evaluating the reception of Locke's Two Treatises On Government.