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 7 - Pythagorean Women and the Domestic as a Philosophical Topic
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
This chapter surveys the status of the (pseud)epigrapha and treatises credited to Pythagorean women. While we cannot be certain they were written by women, it is clear their intended audience is women, who were expected to entertain the texts and hopefully even find the reasoning persuasive. As such, if the content of these texts can be called philosophical, then that will show that women engaged with philosophy at least as far back as the datings of the earliest texts. To that end, the chapter focuses on a few texts, which the author argues address how the running of a household can contribute to the development of virtuous families and cities, an interest shared by canonical authors including Plato and Aristotle. It is further argued that the Pythagorean texts address aspects of the household that are of essential importance but which are ignored in our canonical texts.
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- Ancient Women PhilosophersRecovered Ideas and New Perspectives, pp. 134 - 151Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023