The Platonic and Aristotelian Views on the Role and Status of Women in Society

In much the same way that a woman was not held responsible for acts of adultery,

In his philosophical text, The Republic, Plato argues that justice can only be realized by the moderation of the soul, which he claims reflects as the moderation of the city. He engages in a debate, via the persona of Socrates, with Ademantus and Gaucon on the benefit, or lack thereof, for the man who leads a just life. I shall argue that this analogy reflecting the governing of forces in the soul and in city serves as a sufficient device in proving that justice is beneficial to those who believe in, and practice it. I shall further argue that Plato establishes that the metaphorical bridge between the city and soul analogy and reality is the leader, and that in the city governed by justice the philosopher is king.

Women have played important roles throughout history. They have been responsible for the rise and fall of nations, sustaining families, and have been the focal point of worship in ancient religions. Moving forward in history, women's roles have continually changed. Their status as matriarchs changed as the more advanced ancient civilizations rose. The patriarchal societies of ancient Greece and Rome viewed women differently from some societies of past eras. The study of the economic and political status of women, their rights, and their contributions to both these ancient societies reveals how views change throughout history.

The role of women in ancient Rome is not easily categorized; in some ways they were treated better than women in ancient Greece, but in other matters they were only allowed a very modest degree of rights and privileges. One thing that does seem clear is that as the city-state of Rome evolved from its early days into a more complex society; women were not always limited to secondary roles. In some areas of Roman society, women were allowed more freedoms than in many other ancient civilizations.

Greek and Roman women lived in a world where strict gender roles were given; where each person was judged in terms of compliance with gender-specific standards of conduct. Generally, men were placed above women in terms of independence, control and overall freedom. Whereas men lived in the world at large, active in public life and free to come and go as they willed, women's lives were sheltered. Most women were assigned the role of a homemaker, where they were anticipated to be good wives and mothers, but not much of anything else. The roles of women are thoroughly discussed in readings such as The Aeneid, Iliad, Sappho poetry, and Semonides' essay.

Women in classical Athens could not have had an extremely enjoyable experience, if we rely on literary sources concerning the roles of women within the Greek polis. The so-called Athenian democracy only benefited a fraction of the entire population. At least half of this population was female, yet women seem to have had very little influence and few official civic rights. `The position of women...is a subject which has provoked much controversy.'

In today’s society, we as women often take for granted the rights, freedoms, and equality we share with men that women in the ancient world were not granted. As all civilisations in the ancient world exercised different treatment towards, this essay will illustrate a few comparisons in the status of women during ancient Egypt with women during ancient Rome. Academic sources will be relied on to provide the necessary actualities when one considers ancient civilizations. The legal status of women in society, the domestic atmospheres and roles that each unique region’s women held, and the possible occupations available to these women, will be discussed.

The title of Sarah B. Pomeroy's book on women in antiquity is a summary of the main categories of females in the literary imagination and the societies of ancient Greece and Rome, over a period of fifteen hundred years. Beginning with goddesses, Pomery retells some Greek myths, outlining the social functions of female Olympians – the goddesses are archetypical images of human females, as envisioned by males. Desirable characteristics among a number of females rather than their concentration in one being are appropriate to a patriarchal society. Demosthenes states in the fourth century B.C. this ideal among mortal men, "We have mistresses for our enjoyment, concubines to serve our person and wives for the bearing of legitimate children (Pomery 1995)." Pomery’s goal in writing this book was to detail and outline the true significance of women in all other their roles in antiquity.

Women in ancient Greece had very few rights in comparison to male citizens. Women were unable to vote, own property, or inherit wealth. A woman’s place was in the home and her purpose in life was to rear children. Considering this limited role in society, we see a diverse cast of female characters in Greek mythology. We are presented with women that are powerful and warlike, or sexualized, submissive and emotionally unstable. In many myths, we encounter subversive behavior from women, suggesting, perhaps, the possibility of female empowerment. While produced in an ostensibly misogynistic and oppressive society, these myths consider the possibility for a collapse of male power and the patriarchal system. In Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey,

In Plato’s Republic, there are a several key passages including “The Good”, “The Sun”, “The Divided Line”, “The Cave”, “The Summoners”, “ The Curriculum”, and “The Model Recruit” that help us better understand the four main points of this reading. The four main points are intelligibility, the good, and dialectic and how these things make people more moral individuals.

The documents “Media Bemoans the Condition of Women” and “Plato on the Role of Women in his Utopian Republic” were about the status of women in Ancient Greece. “Media Bemoan the Condition of Women” was more focused on how women were treated much more poorly than men were. The “Plato on the Role of Women in His Utopian Republic” seems to make it sound as if women and men were more equal during this time period.

Readers of the three Greek plays, Oedipus the King, Antigone, and Medea, can easily gather an abundance of information about the different cultural details within the Greek society at that time. One of the major cultural values that can be picked up from these three plays, is the roles of women in this society. The roles of women can be observed through a comparison between them and their male counterparts.

Julia Annas, author of An Introduction to Plato’s Republic, examines Plato’s proposal of women, in Plato’s Republic, within the section of her writing titled Women’s Place. Annas begins by elucidating Plato’s central proposal in which women ought to be Guardians. This proposal has been commended as a contentious leading feminist proposal “ahead of its time, an affirmation of women’s rights, and a protest against their subordination,” (Annas, 181) yet, Annas contests this claim stating Plato has no interest in women’s rights. Plato is concerned with the production of the common good, and

Even Plato's radically innovative proposal has its misgivings. His proposal that women participate equally in men's activities and pursuits, devised and elaborated to bring out the best in masculine nature still implies that women could become guardians only by becoming just like men. However, it is Aristotelian conceptions of women's nature that infuse western theory upto the eighteenth century, offering a rationale for the naturalness of patriarchal social arrangements.

The Platonic principle of the just society involves nothing that excluded women from his horizon; this is also true concerning the principle of just individual, which he said is isomorphic to the just society: an individual is just when reason directs his soul, the character helps to execute the commands of reason, and that appetite obeys. No reference is made to gender differences in either the tripartite analysis of the soul, or in the normative allocation of psychic functions to the three parts of the soul.