On Vives, Cruz, and Pizan

1) From the start of Chapter IV, Vives is clearly arguing for a knowledge of good. He laments: "Would that it were possible to lead our lives in the midst of so many evil people and remain ignorant of evil" (63). So "evil," as he explains earlier, is not something we need bother to teach. Evil will out. It's knowledge of the good, apparently, that deserves our extra attention if we are to be protected from "the constant onslaught of evil" (63). For Vives, education (the right sort, of course) has the capacity to strengthen our minds and "imbue" them with "holy counsels" (65), so as to resist the temptations of evil. Indeed, as he so pointedly remarks, "You will not easily find an evil woman unless she be one who is ignorant..." (65). Let this be a lesson to us, friends.

2) De la Cruz, like Vives, seems to identify a relationship between education and goodness, her primary goal being to "study, so as to become less ignorant" (788). Her writing (and perhaps even her life) suggest a virtuousness to learning, which, were we to use her "Respuesta" to historicize religious humanism, indicates that this movement may be characterized by such a link. Pizan, on the other hand, while certainly identifying the role of morality in courtly life, conflates many of these moral standards with women (e.g. compassion, pity, humility) rather than women's education. While in "City of Ladies" she certainly advocates for the education of women, this opportunity is framed always as having the encouragement and patronage of men (e.g. learned fathers). Many women would certainly have to strive to maintain these mores, as suggested by her recommendation that one avoid gossiping, etc., but one does not seem to need an education to be moral.