Beruf (Vocation)
Description: Amalia Holst uses the term Beruf (vocation) to redefine the traditional roles of women—mother (Mütter), wife (Gattin), and housewife (Hausfrau)—not as subordinate tasks but as legitimate professions requiring intellectual and moral skills. This argumentative reversal is central to her work: higher education is a necessity to fulfill these roles effectively. Holst professionalizes the maternal figure, transforming her into a professional educator (praktische Erzieherin), essential for shaping future citizens. The term Beruf thus acquires a political meaning, tied to the demand for social and intellectual recognition of women’s work.
Related Research Themes:
- The professionalization of the maternal role in the 18th century.
- Domestic labor and social recognition of women.
- Comparison with Theodor von Hippel’s thought on gender role equality.
Bestimmung (Vocation)
Description: The concept of Bestimmung (vocation) refers to the ultimate purpose of human existence, a central theme in German Enlightenment thought. Holst reinterprets this concept from a feminine perspective, arguing that women, while having a gendered destiny (motherhood, domestic care), require higher education to fully realize their social roles. She critiques the Enlightenment for applying Bestimmung discriminatorily, excluding women from Bildung (intellectual formation) and confining them to a private sphere devoid of intellectual dignity. Her proposal transforms women’s "natural destination" into an educational profession (Beruf), valorizing female specificity without relinquishing universal rights.
Related Research Themes:
- The debate on human destination between Enlightenment and Romanticism.
- Comparison of male and female Bestimmung in German philosophical thought.
- The role of Bestimmung in redefining women’s rights.
Critique of Philanthropism and Rousseau
Description: Holst radically opposes the pedagogical theories of the Philanthropists (e.g., Johann Bernhard Basedow) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who justified excluding women from higher education based on alleged natural limitations. Rousseau, in Émile (1762), claimed women were "naturally" destined for domestic roles, with education limited to cultivating modesty and gentleness. Holst challenges this view, exposing such arguments as cultural prejudices rather than biological truths. She also critiques the Enlightenment’s hypocrisy—preaching autonomy and reason while denying them to women. Her work systematically counters these positions, asserting that higher education is essential to achieving humanity’s true Bestimmung, for both men and women.
Related Research Themes:
- Comparison between Holst and Rousseau on the nature of women.
- Critique of Enlightenment educational models (Philanthropists, Pietism).
- The role of women in Enlightenment and Romantic pedagogy.
Maternal Feminism
Description: A key concept in Amalia Holst’s thought, maternal feminism redefines motherhood not as a barrier to female emancipation but as a social and intellectual vocation requiring advanced education. Holst transforms the traditional maternal role into an argument for higher education for women, asserting that only through Geistesbildung (intellectual and moral education) can mothers educate their children in reason and virtue, thus contributing to societal progress. This theme connects to Enlightenment debates on women’s Bestimmung (Vocation) and their role as agents of social change through domestic education.
Related Research Themes:
- The role of mothers in education and citizen formation.
- The redefinition of the private sphere as a political and social space.
- Comparison with Mary Wollstonecraft.
