author
Lady Damaris Masham
1658–1708
An early modern thinker who moved in the same intellectual world as John Locke, she wrote clearly and forcefully about religion, morality, and the education of women. Her work gives a vivid glimpse of philosophical debate in late 17th-century England.
1 Audiobook
Occasional Thoughts in Reference to a Vertuous or Christian life
by Lady Damaris Masham
About the author
Born Damaris Cudworth in Cambridge in either 1658 or 1659, Lady Damaris Masham grew up in an unusually learned household. Her father was the philosopher and theologian Ralph Cudworth, and she developed a serious interest in philosophy and religion at a time when women were largely excluded from formal higher education.
After marrying Sir Francis Masham, she became Lady Masham and lived at Oates in Essex. John Locke spent his final years in her household, and she is remembered as both his friend and an important thinker in her own right. She wrote A Discourse Concerning the Love of God and Occasional Thoughts in Reference to a Vertuous or Christian Life, works that explore moral philosophy, theology, and practical questions about how people should live.
Masham is especially valued today for the way she brought philosophical argument into everyday life. She argued for the serious education of women, challenged narrow religious thinking, and helped shape the intellectual culture of her age with writing that is direct, thoughtful, and still engaging to read.