Philosophy Without Women: The Birth of Sexism in Western Thought (Athlone Contemporary European Thinkers Series)

197 Pages·2002·9.49 MB·English

by  Vigdis Songe Moller

Philosophy Without Women
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Philosophy Without
Women
The Birth of Sexism in Western
"Thought
VIGDIS SONGE M0LLER
Translated by Peter Cripps
continuum
LONDON • NEW YORK
Continuum
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any
information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the pub-
lishers.
© Cappelen Akademisk Forlag as, Oslo 1999
English translation (c) Continuum, 2002
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN
0-8264-5848-3 (hardback) 0-8264-5849-1(paperback)
Typeset by Acorn Bookwork, Salisbury, Wiltshire
Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall
Contents
Translator's Note ix
Preface xi
Introduction xiii
PART I
Sexuality in Myths and Early Philosophy 1
Chapter 1
The Greek Dream of a Womanless World 3
A myth of Athenian origins: man as the source of the child 4
Asymmetrical sexes: man as citizen, woman as sexual being 6
The Pandora myth: woman as death-bringer 8
Plato and sexuality: the One as male principle, the Other as female 10
An inversion: woman as One, man as Other 12
Chapter 2
Thought and Sexuality: A Troubled Relationship
An analysis of Hesiod and Parmenides 21
Introduction 21
What is the origin of all things? Hesiod replies 23
Parmenides' poem: thought instead of sexuality 33
The prologue: the young man's journey to the goddess 33
Being and thinking: a mutually dependent relationship 38
Being: securely held in unyielding bonds. Mythology and logic in
Parmenides' poem 40
Being: life without decay and death 43
Parmenidean Being: ceaselessly virile activity? 45
VI Contents
Chapter 3
The Logic of Exclusion and the Free Men's Democracy
An analysis of the notions of equality and balance in
Anaximander and Parmenides 49
Introduction 49
The democratic polis: circularity and balance 52
Cosmology: from the hierarchical world-view of mythology to
Anaximander's model of cosmic stability 58
Parmenides: theorist of the polis? 65
The sphere of Being as metaphor for the democratic city state.
The unity, equality and self-identity of Being 67
The self-sufficiency of Being and the impossibility of reproduction 69
Being and polis: the active exclusion of the unequal 70
The opinions of mortals: an alternative ideal of equality 72
PART II
Plato, Love and Sexual Difference 77
Chapter 4
Tragic Conflict or Platonic Harmony?
Two views of gender in antiquity 79
Tragic ambivalence 80
Platonic Concorde 84
Chapter 5
Sexuality and Philosophy in Plato's Symposium 89
Abolishing the female, or, the absence of sexual difference in
Plato's philosophy 89
Philosophy as masculine birth: an analysis of the Symposium 94
The prologue (172a-180b): rhetorical presentation of the dialogue's
theme 94
Pausanias' speech in praise of the heavenly, pederastic Eros
(180c-185c) 97
Aristophanes' speech (189c-193d): on the origins of erotic desire 101
Socrates' / Diotima's speech (199c—212c): philosophy as masculine
reproduction 104
Contents vii
Chapter 6
Virginity and Masculine Reproduction: Plato in a Woman's
Looking-Glass
Irigaray's reading of the cave myth 113
Plato's philosophy: portal to our mimetic culture 113
Plato's cave myth: a sketch 116
Plato's text mirrored by Irigaray: a game of inversions, distortions
and mystifications 119
The uterus seen through a distorting and inverting masculine
mirror: a cave of death 122
Virginity as a model for ideal reproduction 124
From the prison of illusions to the prison of truth 127
Chapter 7
From Pederasty to Philosophy
On Foucault's view of sexuality in antiquity 129
The Greeks' sexual-moral problem: how to stylize one's life? 131
A masculine, virile morality: to be master of oneself and others 133
The Greek for sexuality: aphrodisia 136
The principal themes of Foucault's analysis of sexuality: Dietetics,
Economics, Erotics and True Love 139
Dietetics 139
Economics 141
Erotics 144
True love 149
The reception of Foucault's and Irigaray's Platonic studies:
the history of woman's exclusion in repeat? 153
Notes 155
Bibliography 169
Index 175
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Translators Note
For the Norwegian original of this work, many of the passages quoted from
Greek sources were translated by the author herself. This allowed her to
highlight those nuances in the classical texts that were of significance to her
argument but which might not always have been apparent in translations
made for other purposes.
The translations of Greek texts that appear in the current edition have,
except where otherwise stated, been prepared in conjunction with the author
on the basis of various widely available English translations. This applies in
particular to the translations of Hesiod and Parmenides. Owing to the process
of collation, selection and occasional emendation that has been necessary to
convey the frequently contentious meanings of the originals, it is impossible
to credit any single scholar for the renditions presented here. Even so, we
must acknowledge a particular debt to the following:
Kirk, G. S., J. E. Raven, and M. Schofield. The Presocratic Philosophers.
Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Hesiod. Theogony. Works and Days. Translated with an introduction and
notes by M. L. West. Oxford University Press, 1988.
Hesiod. Theogony. Works and Days (published together with Theognis.
Elegies). Translated and with introductions by Dorothea Wender. Har-
mondsworth: Penguin, 1973.
Parmenides. Parmenides. A Text with Translation, Commentary and Critical
Essays. By Leonardo Taran. Princeton University Press, 1965.