Proclus and Theodore of Asine on female philosopher-rulers: Patriarchy, metempsychosis, and women in the Neoplatonic commentary tradition

Ancient Philosophy 33 (2):403-424 (2013)
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Abstract

The Platonic dialogues contain passages that seem to point in quite opposite directions on the question of the moral equality of women with men. Rep. V defends the view that sexual difference need not be relevant to a person’s capacity for philosophy and thus for virtue. Tim. 42a-c, however, makes incarnation in a female body a punishment for failure to master the challenges of embodiment. This paper examines the different ways in which two subsequent Platonists, Proclus (d. 485 CE) and Theodore of Asine (d. c. 360 CE), dealt with this tension.

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10.5840/ancientphil201333229

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Dirk Baltzly
University of Tasmania

Citations of this work

Proclus.Christoph Helmig - forthcoming - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Conceptualizing the ‘female’ soul – a study in Plato and Proclus.Jana Schultz - 2019 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 27 (5):883-901.
Mütterliche Ursachen in Proklos’ Metaphysik.Jana Schultz - 2019 - Philologus: Zeitschrift für Antike Literatur Und Ihre Rezeption 163 (2):250-273.

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References found in this work

Lore and science in ancient Pythagoreanism.Walter Burkert - 1972 - Cambridge, Mass.,: Harvard University Press.
Theurgy and the Soul: The Neoplatonism of Iamblichus.Gregory Shaw - 1971 - Pennsylvania State University Press.

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