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Reason, Religion, and Morals
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2020
Summary
Originally published as Course of Popular Lectures, the works collected in this volume display the gift for oratory and range of progressive ideas that made Frances Wright (1795-1852) both a sought-after lecturer and a controversial figure in early nineteenth-century America.
Born in Scotland, this pioneering freethinker and abolitionist emigrated to America in her twenties and became friends with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. In 1828, she joined Robert Dale Owen's socialist community at New Harmony, Indiana, and helped him edit his New Harmony Gazette. The next year she and Owen moved to New York City, where they published Free Enquirer, which advocated liberalized divorce laws; birth control; free, state-run, secular education; and organization of the disadvantaged working class. It was at this time that she began delivering the popular lectures here collected. Some persistent themes that run throughout these well-argued pieces are: the importance of free, impartial inquiry conducted in a scientific spirit and not influenced by religious superstition or popular prejudice; the need for better, universal education that trains young minds in scientific inquiry rather than religious dogma; the advantage of focusing on the facts of the here-and-now rather than theological speculations; and the failure of American society to live up to its noble ideals of equality and justice for all.
With an insightful introduction by Wright scholar Susan S. Adams (Emeritus Professor of English, Northern Kentucky University), these stimulating lectures by an early and little-known feminist and freethinker will be of interest to students and scholars of women's studies, humanism, and freethought.
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Bibliographic data
Copyright year
2020
ISBN-Print
978-1-5381-5007-8
ISBN-Online
978-1-5381-5008-5
Publisher
Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language
English
Pages
386
Product type
Book Titles
Table of contents
ChapterPages
INTRODUCTION No access
CONTENTS No access
PREFACE No access
INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS, TO THE SECOND COURSE No access Pages 39 - 44
Lecture 1: ON THE NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE No access Pages 45 - 72
Lecture 2: OF FREE INQUIRY, CONSIDERED AS A MEANS FOR OBTAINING JUST KNOWLEDGE No access Pages 73 - 98
Lecture 3: OF THE MORE IMPORTANT DIVISIONS AND ESSENTIAL PARTS OF KNOWLEDGE No access Pages 99 - 122
Lecture 4: RELIGION No access Pages 123 - 146
Lecture 5: MORALS No access Pages 147 - 170
Lecture 6: FORMATION OF OPINIONS No access Pages 171 - 196
Lecture 7: OF EXISTING EVILS, AND THEIR REMEDY No access Pages 197 - 220
ADDRESS I No access Pages 221 - 234
ADDRESS II No access Pages 235 - 258
ADDRESS III No access Pages 259 - 286
REPLY TO THE TRADUCERS OF THE FRENCH REFORMERS OF THEYEAR 1789 No access Pages 287 - 292
ANALYTICA LTABLE OF CONTENTS No access Pages 293 - 306
ADDRESS ON THE STATE OF THE PUBLIC MIND, AND THE MEASURES WHICH IT CALLS FOR No access Pages 307 - 328
ADDRESS, CONTAINING A REVIEW OF THE TIMES No access Pages 329 - 350
AN ADDRESS TO YOUNG MECHANICS No access Pages 351 - 364
