Women in the Socratic Tradition

Book

Women in the Socratic Tradition

Edited by: Carolina de Melo Bomfim Araújo

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2025

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This book is in the series

Volume 2 | Socratic Studies

About this book

Socrates represents an important turning point not only in the history of philosophy, but also in the morality of gender inequality, for he advanced the unprecedented thesis that the virtue of men and women is the same. The arguments supporting such a thesis, however, are controversial: different authors understand Socrates' legacy differently; the arguments do not necessarily account for the universality implied in the thesis; and, in challenging conventions, Socratic literature tends to blur gender distinctions. Be that as it may, these sources undeniably present women as exemplars of the philosophical life. This volume brings together a group of highly qualified scholars to provide a careful analysis of this evidence and a detailed assessment of the Socratic debate on gender, divided into three sections: Socratic Women; Socratics on Women; and Socratic Philosophy as a Woman. It sheds light on a topic rarely explored in scholarship on Socratism: women both as philosophers and as a philosophical motif.

Reappraising the role of women in the birth of Greek philosophy
A fresh look at Socratism and its gender debate
In-depth source analysis of Socrates' inspired critique of social norms in 5th/4th-century B.C.E. Athens

Author / Editor information

Carolina Araújo, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
Abbreviations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed
Frontmatter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	XVII
Introduction Carolina Araújo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	1
Part I: Socratic Women
Rhodogyne and the Tradition of the Amazon Type Francesca Pentassuglio Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	13
Panthea’s Portrait in Xenophon’s Cyropaedia: Kalokagathia, Philia, Eros, and Leadership Vitor de Simoni Milione Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	37
Aspasia’s Eidolon in Plato’s Menexenus Mateo Duque Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	59
Xanthippe’s Harshness: At the Root of Socrates’ Endurance and Paideutic Mission Alessandro Stavru Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	79
The Myrto Enigma: A Wife on the Side? David Lévystone Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	103
The Wife of Ischomachus and the Two Aspasia in Xenophon’s Oeconomicus Etienne Helmer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	145
Theodote and Socrates’ Other Girlfriends Francisco J. Gonzalez Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	161
Hipparchia’s Philosophical Contributions and Her Originality Jérémy Bredin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	181
Part II: Socratics on Women
Women in Antisthenes Aldo Brancacci Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	203
Xenophon’s Women: Women’s Virtue and Women’s Body Fiorenza Bevilacqua Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	225
Aristippus’ View of Women: Misogyny or Theoretical Tension? Giovanna De Paoli Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	245
Plato’s Women: Extending the Socratic Insight Irina Deretić and Nicholas D. Smith Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	271
Undermining Elite Self-Conceptions: Aspasia in the Platonic Menexenus and Theodote in Xenophon’s Memorabilia Wolfgang-Rainer Mann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	299
Women in Common: The Socratic Debate Carolina Araújo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	321
Part III: Socratic Philosophy as a Woman
Was Socrates a Woman? Gabriel Danzig Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	347
Socrates, Hestia, and the Hearth of the City Thomas W. Moody Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	371
Female Container-Metaphors in Plato and Xenophon: The Chōra and the Oikos Laurin Mackowitz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	391
Female and Feminine in Plato’s Symposium Cristina de Souza Agostini Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	407
The Pregnant Soul and Labor Pains: Female Medical Imagery in Plato Silvio Marino Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	431
The Mother and Her Child: The Paradoxes of a Socratic Metaphor Michele Solitario Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	453
About the Authors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed
Index Nominum Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed
Index Locorum Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

August 21, 2025

eBook ISBN:

9783111692456

Hardcover published on:

August 21, 2025

Hardcover ISBN:

9783119149280

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Front matter:

16

Main content:

513

Illustrations:

4

Coloured Illustrations:

1

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111692456

eBook ISBN: 9783111692456

Hardcover ISBN: 9783119149280

Keywords for this book

Women; Socrates; Gender

Audience(s) for this book

Researchers, Postgraduates, Undergraduates

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Walter de Gruyter GmbH
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10785 Berlin
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Women in the Socratic Tradition

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Topics

Table of contents

Bibliographic data