Book contents
- Ancient Women Philosophers
- Ancient Women Philosophers
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Beyond Gender
- Chapter 2 Sulabhā and Indian Philosophy
- Chapter 3 Women’s Medical Knowledge in Antiquity
- Chapter 4 Ancient Women Epicureans and Their Anti-Hedonist Critics
- Chapter 5 Arete of Cyrene and the Role of Women in Philosophical Lineage
- Chapter 6 Women at the Crossroads
- Chapter 7 Pythagorean Women and the Domestic as a Philosophical Topic
- Chapter 8 Perictione, Mother of Metaphysics
- Chapter 9 Not Veiled in Silence
- Chapter 10 Women Philosophers and Ideals of Being a Woman in Neoplatonic Schools of Late Antiquity
- Chapter 11 Reappraising Ban Zhao
- Chapter 12 The Reception of Plato on Women
- References
- Index
Chapter 1 - Beyond Gender
The Voice of Diotima
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 August 2023
- Ancient Women Philosophers
- Ancient Women Philosophers
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Beyond Gender
- Chapter 2 Sulabhā and Indian Philosophy
- Chapter 3 Women’s Medical Knowledge in Antiquity
- Chapter 4 Ancient Women Epicureans and Their Anti-Hedonist Critics
- Chapter 5 Arete of Cyrene and the Role of Women in Philosophical Lineage
- Chapter 6 Women at the Crossroads
- Chapter 7 Pythagorean Women and the Domestic as a Philosophical Topic
- Chapter 8 Perictione, Mother of Metaphysics
- Chapter 9 Not Veiled in Silence
- Chapter 10 Women Philosophers and Ideals of Being a Woman in Neoplatonic Schools of Late Antiquity
- Chapter 11 Reappraising Ban Zhao
- Chapter 12 The Reception of Plato on Women
- References
- Index
Summary
In Plato’s Symposium, the central insights are gleaned from a wise woman from whom Socrates learnt the single thing to which he laid claim to expertise: ta erotika. Since there is a widespread view that Plato stands at the head of a tradition of philosophical thinking in which women are eclipsed, or marginalised, this fact has been seen as significant. This chapter explores whether Diotima’s gender is significant for the philosophy of the Symposium. Gender categories are an explicit feature of this text, but Plato’s playful and provocative use of them is not just a dialectical ploy to provoke reflection on the social norms around sexuality and gender that held sway in his day; toying with them exposes the contingency of gendered categories and, ultimately, their irrelevance to the philosophical life. The wisdom of Diotima is that philosophy is beyond gender; it is, in that respect at least, inclusive.
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- Ancient Women PhilosophersRecovered Ideas and New Perspectives, pp. 21 - 37Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023