Aristotle gave equal weight to women's happiness as he did to men's, commenting in his Rhetoric that a society cannot be happy unless women are happy too.[1] Aristotle believed that in nature a common good came of the rule of a superior being, states in his Politics that "By nature the female has been distinguished from the slave. For nature makes nothing in the manner that the coppersmiths make the Delphic knife – that is, frugally – but, rather, it makes each thing for one purpose. For each thing would do its work most nobly if it had one task rather than many. Among the barbarians the female and the slave have the same status. This is because there are no natural rulers among them but, rather, the association among them is between male and female slave. On account of this, the poets say that 'it is fitting that Greeks rule barbarians', as the barbarian and the slave are by nature the same." Greeks were fit to rule barbarians as the latter's ruling principle is "brawn", that is, the dominion of slavish men over women through physical superiority, reducing the status (taxis) of women to that of slaves, as opposed to the civility of the Greeks' "brains" over "brawns" rule, which differentiates between the roles of women and slaves.[1] But he does not indicate a common good for men being superior to women.[1][2][3]
Inheritance: model of transmission of movements from parents to child, and of form from the father. The model is not fully symmetric.
Aristotle's inheritance model sought to explain how the parents' characteristics are transmitted to the child, subject to influence from the environment.[4] The system worked as follows. The father's semen and the mother's menses encode their parental characteristics.[4] The model is partly asymmetric, as only the father's movements define the form or eidos of the human, while the movements of both the father's and the mother's fluids define features other than the form, such as the father's eye colour or the mother's nose shape.[4] The theory has some symmetry, as semen movements carry maleness while the menses carry femaleness. Aristotle thought that the female body being well-suited to reproduction entails that it has a different body temperature than the male body's.[5] If the semen is hot enough to overpower the cold menses, the child will be a boy; but if it is too cold to do this, the child will be a girl. Inheritance is thus particulate (definitely one trait or another), as in Mendelian genetics, unlike the Hippocratic model which was continuous and blending.[4] The child's sex can be influenced by factors that affect temperature, including the weather, the wind direction, diet, and the father's age. Features other than sex also depend on whether the semen overpowers the menses, so if a man has strong semen, he will have sons who resemble him, while if the semen is weak, he will have daughters who resemble their mother.[4]
Women and politics
Many scholars believe that Aristotle did not consider women suitable for politics, even though their interpretations of Aristotle might vary in other aspects.[6][7][8][9] Many argue that Aristotle's stance on excluding women is unequivocal.[10][11][12] Indeed, Aristotle often made clear-cut statements, as seen in works like Prior Analytics 1.2-3.25alff-25b1ff, 1.26.43b32ff, and frequently mentioned women. In Politics 1.1254b, Aristotle writes, "the male is by nature superior and the female inferior, the male ruler and the female subject."
Aristotle's observations on the household and the ideal polity have caused controversy. In some segments, he does express that women are naturally inferior and ought to be governed, consistently within the household and in the optimal state. Additionally, when discussing the ideal citizen, he frequently employs the term aner, meaning "man" (Politics 1259b2-4; 3.4.1276b16ff, 1277b18ff; Rhetoric 1.9.1367a16-18; Eudemian Ethics 7.2.1237a4-6). Aristotle's Greek terminology for a "ruled" woman, such as to archomenon or arxetai, might hint at someone who is both under governance and in a governing role. Notably, he underlines that those who are governed should, in various situations, also govern. In the Ethics, he contends that a virtuous woman should both be governed and govern in the household (8.10.1160b23-1161a4, 22–25). Hence, in Aristotle's view, women aren't so subordinate that they can't attain mature virtue or have a role in household leadership.
Regarding the ideal state, Aristotle's position is not straightforward, especially when referencing women who are "ruled." Rather than consistently using the term aner, which means "man", he occasionally employs anthropos, a gender-neutral term translating to "human", to describe the exemplary individual in the optimal state (Politics 7.3.1325b27, 32). This choice is especially evident when he contrasts political and philosophical lifestyles (Politics 7.2.1324a5ff, 25, 35). This ambiguity seems to allow Aristotle to maintain a form of internal coherence. In the Eudemian Ethics, he depicts the dynamic between husband and wife as reflective of an aristocracy, even positing aristocracy as the supreme form of governance (7.9.1241b27-39). Similarly, in the Ethics, he uses the mutual governance between spouses as an archetype (8.10.1160b23-25) for political power-sharing in an aristocratic system. Drawing a parallel between the collaborative governance of a well-matched couple and an effective political system wouldn't align with an intent to entirely exclude women from governance in the optimal state. Yet, even if it could be argued that Aristotle does bar women from the highest form of governance, there is no textual evidence on whether Aristotle believed women should be excluded from governance in other, potentially less ideal, political systems.
In the Generation of Animals (2.1.732a3-10), Aristotle argues that while a man's semen imparts the superior form, a woman's menstrual fluid provides the inferior matter to the formation of a fetus. However, based on Aristotle's political standards, this observation does not serve as a rationale, nor is it ever utilized by him as such, to justify excluding women from political roles. He doesn't argue that the contribution of a man's semen alone qualifies him for a share in governing. Aristotle's perspective is intricate: women inherit a version of the human essence that, while inferior to men's in certain non-rational capacities (notably courage), surpasses men's in rational abilities, particularly in the virtue of prudence.[13]
He describes women as mathimatikoteron, meaning they have a heightened capacity for rational learning; phrontistikotera, indicating they are more thoughtful in child-rearing; and mnemonikoteron, highlighting their superior memory. Conversely, men are described as hetton epiboula, or less strategic. Aristotle does not limit women's intellectual strengths to domestic spheres alone. Both women and men can exhibit political discernment, especially concerning child upbringing. The intellectual strengths in which women excel, notably their ability to strategize, learn, remember, and rear children, are linked to the virtue of prudence, which is especially crucial for lawmakers focused on the nurturing of the young (Politics 8.1.1337a11).[14] This virtue of prudence, highlighted as a distinctive attribute for political leaders in Politics 3.4.1277b25ff, is portrayed as a particular natural strength of women.
On the topic of motherhood, when Aristotle discusses citizenship, he doesn't explicitly say or hint that he excludes women from political life. In fact, he acknowledges mothers as citizens. If Aristotle wanted to sideline women, he could suggest that women should be regarded as citizens in name only. He could also categorically group mothers alongside others he deems as citizens in a limited or nominal sense, like underage children. However, he doesn't put forth or even suggest such a perspective. Instead, he aligns mothers with fathers, not with children or other groups with limited citizenship (Politics 3.1.1275a5-24, 1275b17-33; 3.5.1278a1-8).
Related Research Articles
Natural law is a system of law based on a close observation of natural order and human nature, from which values thought by the proponents of this concept to be intrinsic to human nature can be deduced and applied independently of positive law. According to the theory of law called jusnaturalism, all people have inherent rights, conferred not by act of legislation but by "God, nature, or reason." Natural law theory can also refer to "theories of ethics, theories of politics, theories of civil law, and theories of religious morality."
Prudence is the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason. It is classically considered to be a virtue, and in particular one of the four cardinal virtues. Prudentia is an allegorical female personification of the virtue, whose attributes are a mirror and snake, and who is frequently depicted as a pair with Justitia, the Roman goddess of Justice.
Eudaimonia, sometimes anglicized as eudaemonia or eudemonia, is a Greek word literally translating to the state or condition of 'good spirit', and which is commonly translated as 'happiness' or 'welfare'.
Virtue ethics is an approach that treats virtue and character as the primary subjects of ethics, in contrast to other ethical systems that put consequences of voluntary acts, principles or rules of conduct, or obedience to divine authority in the primary role.
In philosophy, economics, and political science, the common good is either what is shared and beneficial for all or most members of a given community, or alternatively, what is achieved by citizenship, collective action, and active participation in the realm of politics and public service. The concept of the common good differs significantly among philosophical doctrines. Early conceptions of the common good were set out by Ancient Greek philosophers, including Aristotle and Plato. One understanding of the common good rooted in Aristotle's philosophy remains in common usage today, referring to what one contemporary scholar calls the "good proper to, and attainable only by, the community, yet individually shared by its members."
"Form of the Good", or more literally "the idea of the good", is a concept in the philosophy of Plato. The definition of the Good is a perfect, eternal, and changeless Form, existing outside space and time. It is a Platonic ideal.
Temperance in its modern use is defined as moderation or voluntary self-restraint. It is typically described in terms of what a person voluntarily refrains from doing. This includes restraint from revenge by practicing mercy and forgiveness, restraint from arrogance by practicing humility and modesty, restraint from excesses such as extravagant luxury or splurging, restraint from overindulgence in food and drink, and restraint from rage or craving by practicing calmness and equanimity.
Kalos kagathos or kalokagathos, of which kalokagathia (καλοκαγαθία) is the derived noun, is a phrase used by classical Greek writers to describe an ideal of gentlemanly personal conduct, especially in a military context.
The Nicomachean Ethics is Aristotle's best-known work on ethics: the science of the good for human life, that which is the goal or end at which all our actions aim. It consists of ten sections, referred to as books or scrolls, and is closely related to Aristotle's Eudemian Ethics. The work is essential in explaining Aristotelian ethics.
Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre is a Scottish-American philosopher who has contributed to moral and political philosophy as well as history of philosophy and theology. MacIntyre's After Virtue (1981) is one of the most important works of Anglophone moral and political philosophy in the 20th century. He is senior research fellow at the Centre for Contemporary Aristotelian Studies in Ethics and Politics (CASEP) at London Metropolitan University, emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, and permanent senior distinguished research fellow at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture. During his lengthy academic career, he also taught at Brandeis University, Duke University, Vanderbilt University, and Boston University.
Phronesis is a type of wisdom or intelligence relevant to practical action. It implies both good judgment and excellence of character and habits, and was a common topic of discussion in ancient Greek philosophy. Classical works about this topic are still influential today. In Aristotelian ethics, the concept was distinguished from other words for wisdom and intellectual virtues—such as episteme and sophia—because of its practical character. The traditional Latin translation is prudentia, which is the source of the English word "prudence".
Sophrosyne is an ancient Greek concept of an ideal of excellence of character and soundness of mind, which when combined in one well-balanced individual leads to other qualities, such as temperance, moderation, prudence, purity, decorum, and self-control. An adjectival form is "sophron".
Politics is a work of political philosophy by Aristotle, a 4th-century BC Greek philosopher.
The goldenmean or golden middle way is the desirable middle between two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency. It appeared in Greek thought at least as early as the Delphic maxim "nothing in excess", which was discussed in Plato's Philebus. Aristotle analyzed the golden mean in the Nicomachean Ethics Book II: That virtues of character can be described as means. It was subsequently emphasized in Aristotelian virtue ethics. For example, in the Aristotelian view, courage is a virtue, but if taken to excess would manifest as recklessness, and, in deficiency, cowardice. The Middle Way form of government for Aristotle was a blend between monarchy, democracy and aristocracy.
Aristotle first used the term ethics to name a field of study developed by his predecessors Socrates and Plato which is devoted to the attempt to provide a rational response to the question of how humans should best live. Aristotle regarded ethics and politics as two related but separate fields of study, since ethics examines the good of the individual, while politics examines the good of the city-state, which he considered to be the best type of community.
Vital heat, also called innate or natural heat, or calidum innatum, is a term in Ancient Greek medicine and philosophy that has generally referred to the heat produced within the body, usually the heat produced by the heart and the circulatory system. Vital heat was a somewhat controversial subject because it was formerly believed that heat was acquired by an outside source such as the element of fire.
The one-sex and two-sex theories are two models of human anatomy or fetal development discussed in Thomas Laqueur's book Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud. Laqueur theorizes that a fundamental change in attitudes toward human sexual anatomy occurred in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. He draws from scholars such as Aristotle and Galen to argue that prior to the eighteenth century, women and men were viewed as two different forms of one essential sex: that is, women were seen to possess the same fundamental reproductive structure as men, the only difference being that female genitalia was inside the body, not outside of it. Anatomists saw the vagina as an interior penis, the labia as foreskin, the uterus as scrotum, and the ovaries as testicles. Laqueur uses the theory of interconvertible bodily fluids as evidence for the one-sex model. However, he claims that around the 18th century, the dominant view became that of two sexes directly opposite to each other. In his view, the departure from a one-sex model is largely because of political shifts which challenged the way women's sexuality came to be seen. One result of this was the emerging view of the female orgasm as nonessential to conception after the eighteenth century. Women and men began to be seen as opposites and each sex was compared in relation to the other. Freud's work further perpetuated the sexual socialization of women by dictating how they should feel pleasure.
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy that flourished in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. The Stoics believed that the practice of virtue is enough to achieve eudaimonia: a well-lived life. The Stoics identified the path to achieving it with a life spent practicing the four virtues in everyday life: wisdom, courage, temperance or moderation, and justice, and living in accordance with nature. It was founded in the ancient Agora of Athens by Zeno of Citium around 300 BC.
Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are held by men. The term patriarchy is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in feminist theory to describe a broader social structure in which men as a group dominate women and children.
Natural slavery is the argument set forth in Aristotle's Politics that some people are slaves by nature, while others are slaves solely by law or convention.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
