Wollstonecraft does not just attack Burke's politics; she critiques his "rhetoric of sensibility". A Vindication of the Rights of Men by Mary Wollstonecraft

: She rejects Burke’s reliance on "custom" and "prescription". She argues that rights are inalienable and based on reason, not on historical inheritance or the preservation of ancient institutions.

: Wollstonecraft indicts the British class system, arguing that hereditary property and titles stifle virtue and ignore the suffering of the poor. She famously mocks Burke’s sentimentalism toward Marie Antoinette, contrasting it with his lack of empathy for the common people.

: She advocates for a society where merit, rather than birthright, determines one's status, and supports the democratic principles of the French Revolution. Critique of Language and Style