Feminist Interpretations of Plato

by Nancy Tuana

Overview

The essays in this anthology explore the full spectrum of Plato's philosophy and are representative of the variety of perspectives within feminist criticism. The essays in the first section focus primarily on Plato's social and political theory, and in particular the place of women within the state. The second section concentrates on examining the role of the feminine within Plato's metaphysics and epistemology.

Tuana introduces both sections and a detailed bibliography is included.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780271010441
Publisher:	Penn State University Press
Publication date:	09/15/1994
Series:	Re-Reading the Canon
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.78(d)

About the Author

Nancy Tuana is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oregon and author of several books, including most recently The Less Noble Sex: Scientific, Religious, and Philosophical Conceptions of Woman's Nature (Indiana, 1993).

Table of Contents

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Part I Plato on Women

1. Gregory Vlastos/Was Plato a Feminist?

2. Janet Farrell Smith/Plato, Irony, and Equality

3. Monique Canto/The Politics of Women's Bodies: Reflections on Plato (translated by Arthur Goldhammer)

4. Arlene W. Saxonhouse/The Philosopher and the Female in the Political Thought of Plato

5. Elizabeth Spelman/Hairy Cobblers and Philosopher-Queens

6. Natalie Harris Bluestone/Why Women Cannot Rule: Sexism in Plato Scholarship

Part II Plato and the Feminine

7. Page duBois/The Platonic Appropriation of Reproduction

8. Wendy Brown/"Supposing Truth Were A Women. . .": Plato's Subversion of Masculine Discourse

9. Luce Irigaray/Sorcerer Love: A Reading of Plato's Symposium, Diotima's Speech (translated by Eleanor H. Kuykendall)

10. Andrea Nye/Irigaray and Diotima at Plato's Symposium

11. Cynthia Hampton/Overcoming Dualism: The Importance of the Intermediate in Plato's Philebus

12. Nancy Tuana and William Cowling/The Presence and Absence of the Feminine in Plato's Philosophy

Select Bibliography

Notes on Contributors

Index