Philosopher
Damaris Masham
1658–1708
Also known as Lady Masham, Damaris Cudworth
One of the earliest English women philosophers, friend of Locke and correspondent of Leibniz, who defended a reasonable Christianity and argued for the education of women.
Damaris Masham’s father was Ralph Cudworth, one of the Cambridge Platonists. He never taught her the classical languages, and she later learned Latin herself by the method Locke recommended. She met Locke in London before 1682; he held her mind in high esteem, she became one of the earliest advocates of his philosophy, and after he came back from Holland in 1688 he stayed with the Mashams at Oates in Essex, and in time made his home there. In 1685 she married Sir Francis Masham, a widower with nine children.
Both her books appeared anonymously, encouraged by Locke, and some readers thought he had written them. The first was written against John Norris, a follower of Malebranche, and the second partly answered Mary Astell. She also corresponded with Leibniz, and wrote the account of Locke’s life on which his first printed biographies drew. She was closer to Locke in her theory of knowledge, but to her father in ethics.
Key ideas
- Moved by the love of happiness
- Human beings are rational and social creatures, moved by the love of happiness, “the earliest and strongest principle” in them; it is enjoyment of pleasure, steered by reason towards the greatest happiness open to us.
- A reasonable religion
- Against the Deists, she denied that a religion of reason alone is possible, and revelation and faith matter. But a religion that ignores reason is superstition, which breeds bigotry and atheism; what matters most is virtuous living.
- Liberty makes virtue possible
- The exercise of virtue depends on civil and religious liberty. “Freedom or Liberty of action”, she wrote, is the greatest gift a created being can have.
- Educating women
- Virtue is learned by understanding moral principles, not by precept, so education is essential. Mothers who are kept uneducated cannot educate their children morally, which makes the education of women a moral and social necessity.
- Tradition
- Western
- Region
- Cambridge, London and Oates, Essex
- Period
- Early modern
- Themes
- Education
Influences
Where these links come from
- Damaris Masham drew on John Locke. Source: Sarah Hutton, Lady Damaris Masham, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Damaris Masham argued against Mary Astell. Source: Sarah Hutton, Lady Damaris Masham, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Key works
- A Discourse Concerning the Love of God, 1696
- Occasional Thoughts in Reference to a Vertuous or Christian Life, 1705
Sources
- Sarah Hutton, Lady Damaris Masham, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy