Blackwell Reference Online

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In its review of Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) , the Monthly Review announced that: Philosophy, which, for so many ages, has amused the indolent recluse with subtle and fruitless speculations, has, at length, stepped forth into the public walks of men, and offers them her friendly aid in correcting those errors which have hitherto retarded their progress toward perfection, and in establishing those principles and rules of action, by which they may be gradually conducted to the summit of human felicity. ( Monthly Review 1792: 198). The image of Philosophy stepping outside of its inherited boundaries in order to circulate in more “public” contexts echoed Joseph Addison's memorable comment in The Spectator No. 10: “It was said of Socrates , that he brought Philosophy down from Heaven, to inhabit among men; and I shall be ambitious to have it said of me, that I brought Philosophy out of Closets and Libraries, Schools and Colleges, to dwell in Clubs and Assemblies, at Tea-Tables and in Coffee-Houses” (Addison and Steele 1711/1907: 38–9). The readers of the Monthly Review; or Literary Journal (founded in 1749) would have appreciated the significance of Addison's broader emphasis on the complex internal relations within the literary field. His article, which was simultaneously an announcement of literary success and an articulation of the ... log in or subscribe to read full text