NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
Is Plato a Feminist? According to the ancient laws, Athenian women were given into marriage by the men of their family. Their own option had no official bearing on the matter, (Gould p. 5). The tradition of an offering presented by the family of the bride was practiced in Athens, as in many states then and even nowadays.
There is data that the women were given consideration not just as property. An account of arbitration tells of a man found to be squandering the important offering he has received for his bride. The father of the bride sets to work suspending the marriage declaring that a husband who has received so large a dowry ought to consider himself the slave of his wife. (Gould, p. 6) Even though the females might have been given thought to, they had a lot of limitations. An ancient Greek woman would have a kris to carry out her dealings of possessions, law and the like. If the father of the woman was not accessible for this position, her brother, uncle, grandfather or other male relative would take the position until she married, as a result of which her husband would execute the responsibilities of the kris, (Gould, p. 154). Though, majority of her lawful matters were managed by men, Greek women could be tried in court for crimes, serve as witnesses to transactions, and inherit possessions, (Gould, p. 151).
They were, on the other hand, not allowed by law to bring weapons or take part in organized combating. This prohibiting of women from fighting and barring of guns is believed to have resulted in a disability to defend their possessions and land, therefore keeping women subject to the men, (Gould, p. 152). Plato could not disregard the pressure of all this background, yet he seems to have broken the limitations of that time period in regards to his treatment of females. Plato believed that the tenure of high merit is an effect of being aware of the Good, (Gould, p. 125).
In the Republic, Plato makes the statements that different people have different characters and it is in every persons best interest to do what his or her character best outfits them to do, (Bar On, p. 4). He also presents the statement that definite characteristics are unrelated to the nature the person must pursue. Therefore, Greek life in general was not in tune with the rights of women. Many philosophers, such as Aristotle, were particularly opposed to women having any sort of role in society outside of child bearing. Plato and Socrates, however, where pioneers in pushing for equality of qualified women to play a pivotal role in politics and philosophy. In Plato's Republic, Socrates argues that women are as capable as men in pursuit of their endeavors, and he puts these observations into consideration in Book V.
The Republic, Book V initiates the discussion of the inclusion of women in Plato's guardian class. Right away the debate is raised as to what capacity a female could fill in the guardian class. Dahl implies that the admission of women to any office violates Plato's principle of the division of labor. Plato refutes this opinion sharply when he states that division of labor must be made by aptitude and ability, not by sex; if a woman shows herself to be capable of political administration, let her rule. In other words, if it is a womans destined role to lead, then she must be presented the opportunity. If a woman shows herself able to guide a society and a man shows himself only capable of washing dishes, let the woman rule and the man clean the plates.
Discussion of inclusion of women in society in Book V directly contradicts previous Athenian thought. But Plato grants woman importance merely because the psyche in itself has no sex and is capable of dwelling in a body of either sex. He stresses in Book V that women are to be given all the opportunities in improving themselves as men are allotted. There should be no consideration of sex as far as education is concerned. In elaborating the psychic and social structure of justice in the ideal state of the Republic, [Plato] explicitly argues against sex discrimination in education for guardian women. He also argues for giving qualified persons full opportunity for guardian training regardless of whether they are male or female. (Adam, p. 47) Plato continues to insist that women stand on equal foot with men in the guardian class by insisting they train and exercise with the men as they prepare to become warriors.
They are to also eat and act communally with the men. Yet, with all the inclusion of females in Plato's upper-echelon class, he is not in total agreement that the genders exist equally. Plato is at times confusing in his opinion of women. While it cannot be argued that he, along with his mentor Socrates, were the first to acknowledge women as capable members of the state, they were definitely not admitting that males and females were equal. Plato was genuinely ambivalent about women. He makes seriously misogynistic and derogatory comments about women within the same dialogue in which he argues that (some) women should be educated the same as men. (Adam, p. 53) Although his feelings are not as strong as Aristotle's, who felt that the male was superior by nature and the female inferior, Socrates does denigrate the female in the same work in which he somewhat praises them.
While Plato allows women to enter the ruling class, he affirms that they will always be weaker than men. While he argues that they are not by nature necessarily different from men, he calls the plundering of a corpse the work of a small and womanish mind. (Roberts, p. 65) In fact, in Book VII, when the degeneration of the political system is considered, it is the woman who is supposed to lead the society to its ultimate fall. Therefore, it is extremely hard to verify Plato as true advocate of womens rights. Although he did consider the woman much more than the Athenians did, they cannot be labeled as verified feminists. At the beginning of Book 5, Plato desexualized the female to incorporate her into the public realm (Saxon house, p. 57). At the beginning of Book 8, he ignores that earlier effort; the sexual female, along with the distinction between the sexes, returns.
The change in orientation appears immediately when Plato curiously refers to what Bloom translates as houses. The phrase is katoikousin eis oikeseis (they live in homes), and the word oikeseis (homes, residences, dwellings) is repeated in the next line of the text. The word never appears in Book 5; oikeseis are not only the buildings we associate with houses but also entail the notion of what is one's own. The widely used root, oiled, means of the same household or related by kinship. In Callipolis, there are no kin and thus no oikeseis. Socrates, using the word in his re description of Book 5, prepares us for the tensions that will explode in the transformation of Callipolis to the regime that loves honor (philo timon), which he chooses to call timocracy: the deep split between male and female, between what is public and what is private, between an unmoving present and a world of motion.
Plato glided over these tensions by eliminating the private along with female in the construction of Callipolis, making ambiguous how the city might address the passage of time and leaving Glaucon to refer vaguely to erotic necessities. The reference to oikeseis at the beginning of Book 8 suggests that distinctions between thine and mine may even exist in the highest city. As much as any errors in identifying the correct season for the begetting of children that result from miscalculating the nuptial number, these distinctions turn Callipolis into a timocracy. Society's current strides in the advancement of feminist ideas and the equality of the sexes, tends to create ideas that women and men can sufficiently survive without the other. However, in a time a liberation of womens subordination of men, humanity cannot ignore the fact that neither sex can survive without the other. Love and the want of a soul mate keeps each member of man and womankind in constant search of the perfect person with whom to become one.
Yet if this bond is a necessity of the human race then why has the meaning, purpose and pursuit of it eluded us for so many generations. There has yet to be a one universal explanation of love and there has yet to be one who understands its powers fully. As we see from Plato's Republic, even the wisest of men, in a time when the search for knowledge was seen as the pathway to enlightenment, couldnt adequately define love and its implications on the human spirit. Though many of the guidelines and characteristics of love set forth by Plato provide important incite to the meaning of love, some have become antiquated and cannot apply to modern society. The Republic outlines the different popular views about love during Plato's time. Plato intentionally portrays some as ignorant and others as valid thoughts on the phenomenon of love.
Within the discourse, the speakers told of the characteristics of the gods related to love as a definition of what love is. Within each of the lectures given, Plato injected certain messages he sought to relay about love and its effect on people. The speeches started with Phaedrus who stated many of the powers of love. He spoke about honor between men and women and their beloved as a great virtue in a relationship. The major point relayed by Phaedrus speech was that a man of any nature would rather suffer humiliation in front of a great mass of people or all of mankind itself than to suffer the loss of respect or the loss of dignity in front of their lover.
Our beloved stirs within us emotions that lead to noble actions. When interjected into modern society this idea creates two separate connotations when related to the male female relationship and its stereotypes. For the male, to suffer indignation in front of a lover translates into the loss of one's masculinity and the inability to protect their lover. For the female, it may consist of a fear of inferiority that creates a striving towards honor and providing for the male a constant venture in the relationship. Phaedrus points out an important truism in male female relationships that fear guides our actions.
Fear of inferiority, fear of humiliation, and fear of loosing the respect of the one they love all drive the lover to nobler actions than they would otherwise be inclined to undertake. The lack of distinction between male and female, animals and humans, condemned men and innocent citizens makes clear that the forgetting of form, and the absence of compulsion attending it, also means the absence of hierarchy. With the blurring of form, criteria for authority dissolve, claims to rule retreat. As Plato begins to identify the negative aspects of democracy deriving from the absence of eide, he offers as examples how in a democracy the teacher fears and fawns on the student; how the young show no deference to the old; how there is no difference between the ruler and the ruled, whether in public or in private (562 d); how the father habituates himself to his son; how the city dweller fears the metic, the foreigner without rights living in this city (562 e); how the old and the young converge and compete (563 a); and how there...
Free research essays on topics related to: republic plato, male and female, plato republic, male female, division of labor
Research essay sample on Male And Female Division Of Labor
