Mary Astell

I first present a rough sketch of Mary Astell’s life despite the scarcity of reliable biographies on her. I then have a close look at her documented conversations with John Norris on the love for God. The differences between love as desire in loving God and love as benevolence when applied to loving other persons will be examined. Not to be left out in this examination is the manner in which pleasure, goodness, and loveliness are interconnected. Norris’s subscription to “occasionalism” leads him to contend that God is the efficient cause of all our sensations, including pleasure. God alone does us good; and therefore, God alone deserves our love. Finally, I explore Astell and Norris’s discussion concerning pain and its origin.