Socrates’ Proto-Liberal Feminism: Toward a Rereading of the Republic with a View to Necessity (original) (raw)
Plato’s “Republic” is generally held to promote equal education for men and women but to fall short of any sort of liberal feminism, since several passages demean women, and the education of women serves not their ends as individuals but the ends of the militaristic city. Based on (i) previously-unnoticed evidence of Socrates’ concern with gender in the transition from the “true,” “healthy” city to the unhealthy, “luxurious” city in Book 2 and (ii) an analysis of the different reasons given for the various roles of women in the first two “waves” of Book 5, I argue that Plato’s Socrates is in fact a visionary liberal feminist. It has not been noticed that in describing the citizens’ way of life in the “healthy” city in Book 2 Socrates suddenly emphasizes women’s (whether by nature or by Greek convention) domestic roles without ever mentioning women; in doing so, he hints that the needs men have for women is the topic he thinks should next be discussed in his and his interlocutors’ search for what justice is, since they have so far ignored it. When Glaucon interrupts to demand luxuries for the “men,” he ignores Socrates’ concern with women as autonomous exchange partners and goes on to endorse only women’s roles that provide men with pleasure and service. Subsequently “purifying” the city of luxury does nothing to remedy this omission. It is not until Book 5 that someone else – Polemarchus – finally notices that women’s roles in the city require further study. In response, Socrates derives proposals concerning women from various principles introduced earlier in the city in speech. By identifying these principles and their different origins (was it Socrates or Glaucon who first introduced them?), I distinguish elements of the treatment of women in Book 5 which Socrates would endorse from those he would not, for which Glaucon (and to some extent Adeimantus) is responsible. In the first wave, Socrates proposes equal education for women based on the principle in the “healthy” city that every individual should do what they are better at relative to others. In the second wave, Socrates proposes abolishing the private family based on Glaucon’s premises that the citizens should be managed like herd animals (see 372d, 451c) and that they should do so looking only to the interests of the city, not of the individuals within it. These premises are not compatible with Socrates’ own principles of autonomous exchange and specialization in the “healthy” city. These conclusions are supported by exhaustive philological analysis, which reveals that throughout the “Republic” Socrates quietly but consistently portrays men as ambitious, foolish, and obliviously unjust as compared to women, while by contrast he always refers to human beings as limited, imperfect beings. In sum, I seek to show that Socrates systematically hints at and wants to discuss how men should consider women to be equal, autonomous partners in exchanges of every kind (domestic, political, and pedagogical), but that such a discussion is repeatedly hindered by the androcentrism and misogyny of Glaucon and others. The Republic is a radical critique of ancient Athenian patriarchy that anticipates second wave feminism in the twentieth century.
The Roots of Feminist Theory in the Philosophy of Plato
International Journal of Social Science Research and Review
Plato is among the most influential philosophers in the course of history, and the range of his ideas about different issues makes other scholars impressed. Considering his various views on varied subjects, one can argue that many ideas of the thinkers originated from Plato’s ideas in the contemporary world. Plato, in different positions, discussed women and their equality with men, especially in Republic Book V. The study of the ideas makes one suppose that the book explores the roots of feminist theory. In Book V, Plato deals with the equality of women and men related to learning different issues and positions. Besides, he has discussed the children-sharing system resulting in the elimination of the private family system. Plato’s opinions are highly disputed; on the one hand, his ideas are considered feminist, and on the other hand, however, they are seen with no relation to feminist philosophy. The present paper aims to judge opinions related to women in the Republic Book V.
Wearing Virtue: Plato's Republic V, 449a-457b and the Socratic Debate on Women's Nature
Archai 33, 2023
In Plato’s Republic V, 449a-457b, Socrates argues that the guardian class of Kallipolis will comprise both men and women and that women with the appropriate nature ought to receive the same education and fulfill the same tasks as their male counterparts. In this article I argue, against competing interpretations of this claim as dependent either on the necessity of abolishing the oikos or on eugenic principles, that Socrates’ argument ought to be understood as a genuine argument about women’s natural capabilities and ought to be interpreted in light of the Socratic debate about women’s virtues. Moreover, I show that the legal language mobilized, combined with polemical references to Aristophanes, serves the purpose of evoking Socrates’ trial, thus alerting the reader to the seriousness of the proposal in question.
PLATO ON THE SOCIAL ROLE OF WOMEN: CRITICAL REFLECTIONS
Skepsis, 2013
Published in Skepsis. Journal for Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Research, XXII, 2013. Abstract: Plato was the first philosopher who gave an account for the highly controversial claim that both genders are principally equal in respect to their talents and abilities. Consequently, one may advocate the thesis that in Plato’s view, the gender differences are rather the outcomes of social, cultural and political influences, than of natural factors. The aim of this paper is to elucidate the meaning and validity of Plato’s arguments for the gender equality in the Republic, which will be supplemented with some important remarks on this same subject-matter from the Laws, in order to find out what social and political implications they have. In doing this, I will argue against some interpretations of prominent Plato scholars who criticize or reject his account of the social role that women should have in Plato’s ideal city. Additionally, I will discuss the claim, advocated by George Vlastos, that Plato is a feminist in a modern sense of the term
The Woman Question in Plato's Republic V
Plato composed not one but two separate attempts to solve the conundrum of the woman question: that is, what to do about the role of women in civil society? The most famous, of course, is Socrates' attempt in the Republic, where he anoints the women of the ruling class as philosopher-queens, albeit as weaker in some respect than the men. But while Socrates does his best to avoid discussing the woman question at all, his counterpart, the Athenian Stranger of the Laws, is forthright about the pressing nature of the problem: the customary practice of leaving women unregulated by law, without public standing and so with no public stake in public well-being, is a grave error. 1 The Stranger's own solution is relatively moderate, though often ignored by Republic commentators: he proposes a partial share in the rulership for women, and some shared education. 2 But while Socrates' solution to the woman question pleases hardly any reader ever, it remains the more vivid and even appealing of the two, perhaps equally from its scope and limitations; and so it tends to be thought of as Plato's answer simply. But the majority of attempts to understand what Socrates in particular is saying about the woman question lift his words out of the fabric of the Republic's conversational back-and-forth, reducing a highly tense moment to an unsatisfying formula of "what Plato said" in general. In doing so, they fall short of a serious attempt to understand the force of Socrates' idiosyncratic plans. To make matters worse, Socratic irony volatizes our relation to the drama: to what extent do we even know what Socrates is ultimately proposing for women? And while, as Kierkegaard notes, the opposite of what is said is the weakest form of irony, there still remains this problem, the very real possibility that by his strange plans, Socrates might be pointing to serious problems with the attempt to rearrange the position of women in the polis. 3 Because of this, much of the scholarship that takes Socratic drama and Socratic irony seriously tends to consider that instead of suggesting women rule as philosopherqueens, Socrates intends the opposite: to laugh and scorn at any alteration in the customary place of women. But this treats the woman question as separate from the immediately following proposal of philosopher-kings, sinking the women while letting the ironic reversal go lightly on philosophy's own foibles. I propose to show the link in dramatic action between Socrates' proposals for women and for philosophy, and to speak to the dramatic reason for the emphasis on women's relative weakness. Socrates' response to the woman question is much richer and more aporetic than is generally imagined. One brief note: another aspect of the woman question takes the form of "what is it?," and this is the more difficult question to ask in good faith. For instance, in reading Irigaray's Speculum of the Other Woman one is struck by her sheer frustration when she addresses Freud's thinking on woman, wherein he attempts to explain that women are, in 1 Laws 780e-781d, and especially 781a: "Through a slackness towards [the female sex] many things have flown past you, which might have been better by far than things are at present, if they had fallen in with laws." All translations are my own. 2 For commentators that do make this crucial comparison, see Blair (2012), 117-18, 151-86; Kochin (2002), 87-111; and also Adam (1913), 124-142 is also worth consulting. 3 Søren Kierkegaard calls the opposite of what is said "finite" irony (1989), 248, while claiming that Socrates' irony, by contrast, is infinite (127).
Plato was a philosopher and a mathematician in Classical Greece. He is considered a great figure in the development of philosophy, especially the Western tradition. He was a student of Socrates and his most famous student was Aristotle. He founded the Athenian Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world, and alongside his teacher and student, he laid the foundations of Western philosophy and science. Plato's dialogues have been and continue to be used to teach a wide range of subjects, including philosophy, logic, ethics, rhetoric, religion and mathematics. In this essay I am set to present his thoughts on the equality of women and their engagement in political life, alongside the thoughts of other thinkers who have delved in depth into the matter in question as well, a review of the political status of women today before finally giving a critique of the entire foregoing. Recently, on 27 th January 2015, while ending his visit to India, American President Barrack Obama called for equal treatment of females as their male counterparts especially in terms of education and work. He said, 'We know from experience that nations are more successful when their women are successful … This is one of the most direct measures of whether a nation is going to develop effectively-how it treats its women.' 1 Such calls did not just emerge today for a look into history reveals that they actually existed long before the incarnation of Christ. Plato's position on the question of the equality of women as pertains to their involvement in political life is clearly stipulated in his dialogue, Republic. He held that women are of equal aptitude as men and thus ought to be offered equal opportunity to serve in the organization of the state. During his time, only Athenian-born male citizens took part in making decisions that shaped the city state. Women were confined to the homes for child bearing and rearing as well as caretakers. His proposed ideal state was tripartite, having in it the two leading classes of
Plato and Equality for Women across Social Class
Journal of Ancient Philosophy
This essay will marshal evidence for Plato’s extension of equal education and professional opportunity to all women, including artisan women who are not his ideal city’s philosopher-queens. I examine the explicit commentary in the Republic, Timaeus, and Laws about women in artisan professions, and I link it together with the three of the core principles advanced in the Republic, particularly (1) the principle of specialization (R. 369b-370c), (2) the principle of irrelevant reproductive differences (R. 454b-e, 456b), and (3) the principle of children’s potential (R. 415a-c, 423c-d) that arises from the myth of metals. Plato uses his Socrates and the Athenian to argue against gender discrimination because it violates these principles. Plato offering a theory of equal opportunity for women across all classes ought to be highlighted as one of the central achievements of the Republic.
The Women’s Law (tou gynaikeiou nomos) in the Kallipolis of Plato’s Republic
Areté, 2022
justicia en la pólis. La legislación de la mujer, en general, históricamente ha sido relegada por los intérpretes de la República. El objeto del artículo es analizar este pasaje, del 449a al 457c, a través de los argumentos propuestos por Sócrates al considerarlos cruciales para concebir la igualdad entre los sexos (bajo el fundamento ontológico de la misma naturaleza humana) y favorecer el cambio institucional según su naturaleza, katà phýsin, dejando espacio para que las mujeres gobiernen la pólis. Antes de partir hacia el enfrentamiento externo, Sócrates considera urgente que sus interlocutores, Adimanto, Glaucón y Polemarco, estén de acuerdo entre ellos. Así, los insta a iniciar la discusión cuestionando la naturaleza humana de la mujer y su capacidad para las mismas funciones (érga) que desempeñan los hombres en la ciudad. El examen de lo inteligible permitió que el lógos sobre la capacidad intelectual de las mujeres respaldara una legislación adecuada. Este nómos puesto en práctica demuestra ser lo mejor para la ciudad y sus guardianes. En esa medida, Sócrates puede concluir dicha investigación con un consenso sobre qué hacer y la voluntad de confrontar urgentemente las opiniones opuestas en la ciudad.
Women in the Law of Democratic Athens
It is universally considered that Classical Greece is one of the most interesting and important periods of the Ancient World both from the socio-political and cultural points of view. "It was the epoch full of the most significant eventsthe processes, that began in the Archaic period acquired surprising perfection, the Greek culture gave birth to majority of its important heights, the power of the Greek polis ideology as well as its weakness was completely revealed at this time. It was the period during which the Greek culture achieving the great ascents has suffered such a great and final decay. Every aspect of the versatile and full-blooded life of this period arouses a great interest up to now". 1 Achievements of Classical Greece is straightforwardly linked with emergence and development of the new system -democracy, which reached its peak in Athenian polis. The Athenian democracy elaborated the democratic principles in a most perfect way. Athenian citizens had the same rights and could equally take part in the political life of the day; at the same time they had a free choice for their activities, for founding their business and e.t.c. But these were considered the privileges of the citizens. Despite the fact, that women also were the citizens of Athens, they were deprived of the abovementioned rights of citizen. It was a paradox of the Athenian democracy. Thus the democratic freedom of the classical polis entailed the legal and cultural subordination of women. 2 What was the reason of it? But before we can answer this question there is a point we should discuss. We must investigate the way how the democratic system of governing had been found and see, what was the basis of the newly established state.
Plato on Female Emancipation and the Traditional Family
Apeiron, 1978
In Republic V Socrates offer three successive waves of paradox, the first being that amongst the rulers men and women will be assigned to fulfill the same social functions and the second being that amongst the rulers the traditional private family will be abolished. In her article “Philosopher Queens and Private Wives: Plato on Women and the Family” (Philosophy and Public Affairs (1977)) Susan Moller Okin argued that Plato’s argument is that the second wave of paradox implies the first. In this note I rebut Okin’s arguments and show, in part based on evidence adduced by Okin herself, that for Plato it is the first wave of paradox that implies the second.
This paper seeks first to interrogate the way(s) in which two contemporary feminist thinkers (Judith Butler and Luce Irigaray) have appropriated, colonised and reformulated a foundationalist signifying economy (Plato’s philosophy of Forms). I will argue that any verdict on these issues of essentialist and constructivist social history must first accommodate a thoroughgoing presentation of all available evidence. The second half of this paper explores the way(s) in which specific (re)presentations of female identity – the gravestone of two citizens of the late-republican city of Rome (CIL 6/3.18524) and the graffito of a Roman ‘poetess’ in the epigraphic environment of early-imperial Pompeii (CIL 4.5296) – (en)gender (in many senses) exactly the kinds of tensions and ambiguities which Butler and Irigaray bring to bear on Plato’s masculinist strategies. What I hope to illustrate is two-fold: a practical method of, and the critical need for, integrating (post-) modern theoretical standpoints on sex/gender issues with the (re)presentational discourses of the ancient world.