Amalia Holst on the Education of the Human Race

In 1802, Amalia Holst (1758–1829) published a text entitled Über die Bestimmung des Weibes zur höhern Geistesbildung (On Woman’s Vocation to a higher Education of the Mind). In this lengthy and meticulously argued treatise, Holst engages in a vigorous rebuttal of Rousseau-inspired justifications for obstructing women’s access to education and, positively, connects women’s right to education to the traditional conception of woman’s vocation. While the text was, unsurprisingly, the object of a hostile reception in its own time, there are features of Holst’s argument that continue to complicate its reception within the history of philosophical feminism today.