Why Does a Woman's Deliberative Faculty Have No Authority? Aristotle on the Political Role of Women
Abstract
In this paper I will discuss Aristotle's controversial philosophical views on women. I will critically examine three main interpretations of his claim that women have deliberative faculty "without authority" According to the first line ofinterpretation Aristotle has in mind that women's incapacity of advice-giving and decision-making in public affairs are determined by conventions in the political context of his time. I will attempt to point out the disadvantages of this kind of interpretation. Furthermore, I will put forward the reasons why is implausible the more recent interpretation, given by Marguerite Deslauriers. According to her reading, the lack of authority of deliberative faculty in women means nothing else than the tasks over which women have authority are for the purpose of the tasks put forth by men. The prevailing interpretation among scholars is that, in Aristotle's view, women are naturally inferior to men, due to the fact that they are all too frequently overruled by ...the irrational "forces" of their nature. I will argue that this line of interpretation elucidates what Aristotle presumably has in mind, although it makes his account of women and their rationality, if not inconclusive, then indisputably problematic. In other words, I attempt to prove that, if the prevailing line of interpretation is correct, such view of women produces some philosophically "insurmountable" problems for Aristotle. The aim of the last section of the paper is to point out how some of these problems could eventually be resolved.
Keywords:
women / deliberative faculty / decision-making / authority / AristotleSource:
Filozofija i društvo, 2015, 26, 4, 902-916Publisher:
- Univerzitet u Beogradu - Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju, Beograd
Funding / projects:
- History of Serbian Philosophy (RS-179064)
- Logical-epistemological basis of metaphysics (RS-179067)
Institution/Community
Filozofija / PhilosophyTY - JOUR AU - Deretić, Irina PY - 2015 UR - http://reff.f.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/2062 AB - In this paper I will discuss Aristotle's controversial philosophical views on women. I will critically examine three main interpretations of his claim that women have deliberative faculty "without authority" According to the first line ofinterpretation Aristotle has in mind that women's incapacity of advice-giving and decision-making in public affairs are determined by conventions in the political context of his time. I will attempt to point out the disadvantages of this kind of interpretation. Furthermore, I will put forward the reasons why is implausible the more recent interpretation, given by Marguerite Deslauriers. According to her reading, the lack of authority of deliberative faculty in women means nothing else than the tasks over which women have authority are for the purpose of the tasks put forth by men. The prevailing interpretation among scholars is that, in Aristotle's view, women are naturally inferior to men, due to the fact that they are all too frequently overruled by the irrational "forces" of their nature. I will argue that this line of interpretation elucidates what Aristotle presumably has in mind, although it makes his account of women and their rationality, if not inconclusive, then indisputably problematic. In other words, I attempt to prove that, if the prevailing line of interpretation is correct, such view of women produces some philosophically "insurmountable" problems for Aristotle. The aim of the last section of the paper is to point out how some of these problems could eventually be resolved. PB - Univerzitet u Beogradu - Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju, Beograd T2 - Filozofija i društvo T1 - Why Does a Woman's Deliberative Faculty Have No Authority? Aristotle on the Political Role of Women EP - 916 IS - 4 SP - 902 VL - 26 DO - 10.2298/FID1504902D ER -
@article{ author = "Deretić, Irina", year = "2015", abstract = "In this paper I will discuss Aristotle's controversial philosophical views on women. I will critically examine three main interpretations of his claim that women have deliberative faculty "without authority" According to the first line ofinterpretation Aristotle has in mind that women's incapacity of advice-giving and decision-making in public affairs are determined by conventions in the political context of his time. I will attempt to point out the disadvantages of this kind of interpretation. Furthermore, I will put forward the reasons why is implausible the more recent interpretation, given by Marguerite Deslauriers. According to her reading, the lack of authority of deliberative faculty in women means nothing else than the tasks over which women have authority are for the purpose of the tasks put forth by men. The prevailing interpretation among scholars is that, in Aristotle's view, women are naturally inferior to men, due to the fact that they are all too frequently overruled by the irrational "forces" of their nature. I will argue that this line of interpretation elucidates what Aristotle presumably has in mind, although it makes his account of women and their rationality, if not inconclusive, then indisputably problematic. In other words, I attempt to prove that, if the prevailing line of interpretation is correct, such view of women produces some philosophically "insurmountable" problems for Aristotle. The aim of the last section of the paper is to point out how some of these problems could eventually be resolved.", publisher = "Univerzitet u Beogradu - Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju, Beograd", journal = "Filozofija i društvo", title = "Why Does a Woman's Deliberative Faculty Have No Authority? Aristotle on the Political Role of Women", pages = "916-902", number = "4", volume = "26", doi = "10.2298/FID1504902D" }
Deretić, I.. (2015). Why Does a Woman's Deliberative Faculty Have No Authority? Aristotle on the Political Role of Women. in Filozofija i društvo Univerzitet u Beogradu - Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju, Beograd., 26(4), 902-916. https://doi.org/10.2298/FID1504902D
Deretić I. Why Does a Woman's Deliberative Faculty Have No Authority? Aristotle on the Political Role of Women. in Filozofija i društvo. 2015;26(4):902-916. doi:10.2298/FID1504902D .
Deretić, Irina, "Why Does a Woman's Deliberative Faculty Have No Authority? Aristotle on the Political Role of Women" in Filozofija i društvo, 26, no. 4 (2015):902-916, https://doi.org/10.2298/FID1504902D . .