This study argues that the female philosopher, a literary figure brought into existence by Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman , embodied the transformations of feminist thought at the end of the Enlightenment. In imagining a series of alternate lives and afterlives for the female philosopher, leading women authors of the early Romantic period used the resources of the novel to evaluate Wollstonecraft's ideas and her legacy. This book explores how these writers' opinions converged on such issues as ungendered virtues and abilities, education, and progress, but diverged on a question closely connected to Wollstonecraft's life: whether the enlightened, intellectual woman ought to live according to her own principles, or sacrifice moral autonomy in the interest of pragmatic accommodation to societal expectations. In its discussion of the female philosopher, this book will appeal to readers interested in Mary Wollstonecraft and Jane Austen, as well as to those who want to learn more about gender in the late-Enlightenment/ early Romantic period and the history of feminist thought in Britain.