Biographical Directory 299the Rambler (1750) and was a regular contributor to the Gentleman’s
Magazine.
Juno. In Roman mythology, she was known as the queen of the heavens
and wife of Jupiter. She is often portrayed as especially hot tempered
and jealous — attributes which Wollstonecraft mentions in the Rights of
Woman. She was the goddess of women and fertility, and later became
associated with the Greek goddess Hera. For example, Virgil’s Aeneid
depicts Juno as a calculating and cruel goddess, perhaps relying more
on the characteristics of Hera than on Juno herself.
Knox, Vicesimus (1752–1821). Writer and headmaster of Tonbridge
School in Kent (1778 –1812). Knox wrote essays on morality and edu-
cation that became quite popular. In Liberal Education, or, A Practical
Treatise on the Method of Acquiring Useful and Polite Learning (1781)
he sought to step beyond theoretical accounts of education to provide
practical advice that might guide parents in their decisions about where
to send their children to school. Although Knox was a proponent of
women’s education, he also believed that women should receive their
liberal education at home, separately from men. Wollstonecraft refers
to his best-known work, Essays Moral and Literary (1778), in which
Knox engages eighteenth-century debate on the role of sensibility in
moral life. His moral ideal places emphasis on moderation and the in-
dependent possession of integrity, but also leaves room for a benefi cent
form of sensibility. He rejected the perversion of sensibility in the form
of ostentatious affectation, instead encouraging compassionate engage-
ment in familial, social, and political relationships. Wollstonecraft sug-
gests that his moral ideal of temperance is at odds with his practical
advice that women should receive a separate education from men.
Leibnitz, Gottfried Wilhelm (1646 –1716). Deemed a universal genius, he
was a German scholar and politician who made signifi cant contribu-
tions to mathematics, physics, jurisprudence, history, and philosophy.
He discovered a method of calculus independent of Newton and devel-
oped a form of mathematical notation that remains in use. His major
philosophical work, Essai de Theodicée (1710), refutes Pierre Bayle’s
conception of God in favor of a defi nition of God as “infi nite possibil-
ity.” Leibnitz asserted that the universe was fundamentally harmonious
and that its basic units, monads, were self-contained parts of a hierarchi-
cal order under God.
Locke, John (1632–1704). English political philosopher whose writings
had a profound impact on both modern philosophy and politics. His Two
Treatises of Government exerted a major infl uence on the American