The Role of Women and Marriage in Socrates' The Republic

1029 Words3 Pages

In his constant quest to find the true meaning of justice and the creation of the ideal city Socrates finds that while many of the element of the city have been properly set forth he forgot to take into account the place women will have in the city and the idea of child-rearing. After some careful discussion about the nature of women and how it would relate to their particular role in the city Socrates and Adeimantus come to the agreement that the women will be assigned their roles in the same manner as the men of the city. This agreement eventually will lead the men to the discussion of marriages and procreation in the city and how it is to be regulated in order to maintain the greater good in the city.

Socrates begins his explanation of marriages in the city by first establishing that all spouses and children in the city be held in common in order to avoid any factions among the people. Then he further goes on to explain that in order to avoid irregular unholy intercourse there will be festivals at set times in the year during which the marriage of couples for intercourse will occur. According to this decree the best women will be “given” to the best and most prestigious men of the city often times in multiples in order to secure there will be more offspring of this caliber. While the process of setting forth or arraigning these marriages will be left to the noblest guardians in order to disguise this fact the distribution of wives will be decided through a serious of games that will lead the ordinary man to believe his wife selection was based solely on chance.

Once the offspring are born according to Socrates they are to taken by the people who are giving the responsibility of child-rearing in the city. The offspring...

... middle of paper ...

...with the number of children being produced at the same time and based on the amount of time placed in between each mating period. Finally there is the separation of the children from their parents at birth and their placement with nurses for the extent of their rearing. This creates a problem because it goes against the maternal nature of most women and does not explain what would happen if a mother refused to give up her child.

While in theory I agree with some of the points Socrates made in his placement of women and the value of marriage in the city I cannot help but to find it unworkable in application. In practice Socrates’ new institutions will in many cases lead to more problem than help for the city. The new provisions set forth will simply open the door for the same corruption that Socrates has worked so hard to keep out while forming this city thus far.

Show More
Related

  • Justice and Moderation of the Soul in The Republic, by Plato

    3023 Words  | 7 Pages

    Socrates now introduces a new method with use of imagery. He mentions a city and all that's within a city, to be applied in reference to the human soul. There are three cities he speaks of the city of necessity, the city of luxury, and the feverish city. The city of necessity only includes items, such as food, shelter and clothing, needed for survival as well as laborers to provide them. Soon, the laborers begin to expand necessity to comfort, thus forming th...

    Read More

  • Conflicting Points in Plato's Republic

    402 Words  | 1 Pages

    In his Plato’s Republic Socrates tries to find the values of an ideal city in order to rightly define justice. Although I agree with most of his ideals for the city, there are also many that I disagree with. Some of his ideas that I accept are that women should be able to share the same responsibilities as the men, having women and children in common, , the recognition of honor based on the self rather than heredity, that the best philosophers are useless to the multitudes, and the philosopher / king as a ruler. I disagree with his views on censorship, having assigned positions in society, his views on democracy, and that art cannot be a respectable occupation.

    Read More

  • The Main Duties And Responsibilities Of An Athenian Wife

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    man went down to the market to buy a toga or some sort of cloth, it

    Read More

  • Women In Ancient Greek Society

    1001 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the Greek society women were treated very differently than they are today. Women in ancient Greece were not allowed to own property, participate in politics, and they were under control of the man in their lives. The goddess Aphrodite did not adhere to these social norms and thus the reason the earthly women must comply with the societal structure that was set before them. Aphrodite did not have a father figure according to Hesiod, and therefore did not have a man in her life to tell her what to do. She was a serial adulteress and has many children with many men other than her husband. She was not the only goddess from the ancient Greek myths to cause doubt in the minds of men. Gaia and the Titan Rhea rise up against their husbands in order to protect their children. Pandora, another woman in the Greek myths, shows that all evil comes from woman. Aphrodite, Gaia, Rhea, and Pandora cause the ancient Greek men to be suspicious of women because of her mischievous and wild behavior.

    Read More

  • Athenian Treatment of Individuals and Government

    944 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...rotect their women and children.10 Plato states that much like the dogs used to hunt, if women receive “the same nurture and education” then they too would be as good as men, and should not be treated as if they are not inferior to men. “Men and women alike possess the qualities which make a guardian; they differ only in their comparative strength or weakness”, Plato is saying that although men and women are different they both have strengths and weaknesses that are required.11

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Plato's The Republic

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    It isn’t the fact Socrates gave women a role in the ideal society, but rather the fact that he proposed such a controversial idea. The notion of women and their equivalencies to men has been something that has been brought up time and time again throughout history and will always remain a great debate. In The Republic Book 5, Socrates says that even though women are not as physically strong as men, women still have the same abilities and aptitudes as men. Therefore, women should be treated equally with men. Because women have the same mental abilities as men, it is possible for them to become leaders as well. “In this Socratic perspective, basic qualities of the human body and mind such as strength, justice, virtue, temperance, courage, wisdom, etc. exist in both sexes enough to make their inclusion, or the inclusion of anything dependent upon them, in a gender identity distinction into a serious misconception of men and women. This means that the most important and valued attributes of the human heart and mind should never be included in the construction of gender difference. All that is courageous, tender, temperate, virtuous, compassionate, just and wise, all that stands at the heart of our attempts to live well, all that is the very lifeblood of the human spirit’s striving for excellence is never masculine or feminine. It is human” (Maxwell). Maxwell perfectly

    Read More

  • Plato Republic Democracy

    1270 Words  | 3 Pages

    Socrates evaluates four city constitutions that evolve from aristocracy: timocracy, oligarchy, democracy and tyranny. As a result that these four types of cities exist, four additional types of individuals who inhabit them also exist. Although these city constitutions evolve from aristocracy, Socrates deems aristocracy to be the most efficient, therefore the most just, of the constitutions because the individuals within it are ruled by the rational part of the soul.

    Read More

  • The role of Women in Greece

    1539 Words  | 4 Pages

    Greek women, as depicted as in their history and literature, endure many hardships and struggle to establish a meaningful status in their society. In the Odyssey, Penelope’s only role in the epic is to support Odysseus and remain loyal to him. She is at home and struggles to keep her family intact while Odysseus is away trying to return to his native land. The cultural role of women is depicted as being supportive of man and nothing more. Yet what women in ancient Greece did long ago was by far more impressive than what men did.

    Read More

  • Influnce of Human Nature and Politics in a City

    1631 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Plato’s republic, a philosophical account on the kallipolis (the beautiful city) is built on the perspective of Socrates and his discussion between his companions. In the republic, the city in which ones live in depends on the soul and the character of the city one lives in. In this paper the character of human nature and politics will be discussed in how a city is ought to be by the influence of human nature and politics. Firstly, the influence of human nature on politics will be looked at, for example according to Plato on behalf of Socrates; he claims that a just soul creates a just society, where it is human nature to be just, that influences in creating a just political system. Secondly, politics influences human nature, where in the republic when the discussion of guardians starts out between Socrates and the companions, there is political thought discussed between them, where Socrates wants to create the perfect guardians through specific training in all types of skills instituted to creating a perfect protector. Lastly, human nature is human soul if the soul is just the city is going to be just. It is the human nature which has created communities without any political thought put in place; it political thought that forms rules and laws. Thus, human nature is part of the individual understanding of its society that creates an understanding of how one ought to be, which in turns creates rules and laws that is essentially viewed as politics.

    Read More

  • Women in the Early Republic

    695 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women were very important to the development of the Republic in the United States. Although their influences were indirect they had a big impact. Women were not allowed to participate in elections or hold office; however they were wives of politicians and “mothers of republic”. Despite being legally ineligible for the above roles they were granted the right to education and a small amount of freedom, which in turn enabled them to become more intellectually acceptable on the topics of government.

    Read More

  • Treatment Of Women In Ancient Greece Essay

    1762 Words  | 4 Pages

    When thinking of ancient Greece, images of revolutionary contrapposto sculpture, ornate lecture halls, and great philosophers in togas are sure to come to mind. As the birthplace of democracy and western philosophy, ancient Greece has had an inordinate influence on the progression of the modern world. However, the ancient Greeks’ treatment of women is seemingly at direct odds with their progressive and idealistic society.

    Read More

  • Differences and Similarities of The Women of Athens and Sparta

    1843 Words  | 4 Pages

    Women in the ancient world had few rights, they differed from country to country or, in the case of the women of Athens and Sparta, from city-state to the city-state. The women of the city-states of Athens and Sparta had profound differences in their roles in the political and the daily lives of their families and their cities. When it came to the difference in levels of power and the rights of women, Sparta was a leader in its time. At the same time, their rights as citizens were almost the same. While they did not take an active part in politics, they had opinions and ideas like women all over the world. Their thoughts, deeds, and opinions rarely recorded or if they were, the male historians or philosophers of the time recorded them. What were roles did the women in ancient Athens and Sparta? Were they citizens, did they have personal freedoms? On the other hand, did they in a time when the beginnings of democracy were happening were they less than a second-class citizen? The misogyny and patriarchal societies continued throughout the ancient and classical periods only beginning to change in the Hellenistic era.

    Read More

  • Sexuality In Greek Society

    776 Words  | 2 Pages

    Women served two separate and distinct purposes, neither condoned in the same woman. One purpose was matrimony and procreation, the other was sexual pleasure for pleasure’s sake (Freeman, 228-229). The Greeks had several beliefs

    Read More

  • Essay on Satire in Lysistrata

    766 Words  | 2 Pages

    Aristophanes stereotypes women as bickering, self-centered, unintelligent people in the beginning.  They are sex driven and selfish.  Lysistrata is upset that the women are late for the very important meeting "Here I've called a meeting to discuss a very important matter, and they're all still fast asleep" (180).  Calonice sums up what women are thought to do all day, and also what they represent to their households; "The women!  What could they ever do that was any use?  Sitting at home putting flowers in their hair, putting on cosmetics and saffron gowns and Cimberian see-through shifts, with slippers on our feet?" (181).  It is in fact these very frivolous ideas that are used to bring peace to the two cities.  Throughout the play Aristophanes begins to knock down ...

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis Of Plato's Republic

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    Socrates is widely considered to be the first male feminist in history. In book five of Republic, Socrates proposes the idea of having guardians for the city. He believes these guardians can be both men and women alike. Socrates believed men and women to be equal in this regard. C.W. Taylor points out, “Socrates suggests that the distinction between male and female is as relevant as the distinction between having long hair and having short hair for the purposes of deciding who should be active guardians.” Socrates also states that females need to be put through the same school as males. Socrates says, “The if we are to use the women for the same things as the men, we must teach them the same things.” Socrates is arguing that women cannot perform the same tasks as men do without being taught how to do them. This was a very radical statement in Socrates’ time. No one before him had ever thought women to be equal to men. Clearly, feminism is a major theme in Plato’s

    Read More

More about The Role of Women and Marriage in Socrates' The Republic

Open Document