巴蘇亞．梅金及其《女學復興論》——作者、文本與觀念

Bathsua Makin and Her An Essay to Revive the Ancient Education of Gentlewomen (1673): Authorship, Text, and Ideas

巴蘇亞．梅金（Bathsua Makin，1600–1681？）是17世紀英格蘭的女性教育思想家，也是英國女性主義的早期先驅。學界一般將梅金的代表作《女學復興論》（An Essay to Revive the Ancient Education of Gentlewomen）認定為她獨創，亦有觀點認為是馬克．劉易斯（Mark Lewis，1600–1681）所作，但按照既有證據推定，這本小冊子係梅金與劉易斯合作完成，梅金負責該書前36頁的內容。這部分內容體現了梅金所傳承的人文主義教育傳統，而非夸美紐斯（John Amos Comenius，1592–1670）派的教育理念。梅金援用這種傳統，為婦女受教權辯護，進而發展出一種早期女性主義思想。尤其值得關注的是，梅金的論著重新思考婦女與重大歷史事件的關係，與今日的婦女史實踐道路不謀而合。並且，她將婦女地位當成衡量國家發展程度的標準，預示了啟蒙時代相關主題的進一步討論。

Bathsua Makin was a prominent advocate for female education and an early pioneer of feminism in 17th-century England. Makin’s masterpiece, An Essay to Revive the Ancient Education of Gentlewomen, was composed in collaboration with Mark Lewis, with Makin herself penning the first 36 pages. This section reflects the humanist educational tradition that Makin inherited, rather than the pedagogical philosophy of John Amos Comenius and his disciples. Makin rearticulated this tradition to justify women’s direct access to education, thus articulating a vision of early feminism. Particularly noteworthy is the Makin’s reconsideration of the relationship between women and significant historical events—an approach that anticipates the trajectories of contemporary women’s history scholarship. Furthermore, by treating the status of women as a benchmark for assessing national development, she opened the way for further discussions on this theme during the Enlightenment.