association of ideas See ASSOCIATIONISM. Astell, Mary (1666–1731), an early English feminist and author of A Serious Proposal to the Ladies (1694 and 1697) and Some Reflections on Marriage (1700). These works argue that women’s shortcomings are not due to a lack of intellectual ability, since women have rational souls, and present an educational program to fit them rationally for their religious duties. Astell entered as well into the philosophical, theological, and political controversies of her day. Her Letters Concerning the Love of God (1695) is a correspondence with the English Malebranchian, John Norris, over such issues as Norris’s contention that our duty is to God only. Her most substantial work, The Christian Religion, as Professed by a Daughter of the Church of England (1705), lays out her views on the grounds and implications of natural and revealed religion. This work includes considerable critical attention to John Locke’s ideas, and both this and the Letters called forth refutations from Locke’s friend, Damaris Cudworth. See also CUDWORTH , DAMARIS ; FEMINIST PHILOSO — PHY; MALEBRANCH. M.At.