Abstract
In this paper I examine what it is about a woman’s nature that, according to Aristotle, makes her suited only for partial authority in the household but not the polis. I situate this question within the context of his rejection of Plato’s more enlightened proposals about women in the Republic. My central claim is that, contra Plato, Aristotle thinks women command only partial authority in the household because their deliberative faculties are intrinsically deficient or limited in comparison to those of freeborn males. I motivate this presumption by critically examining the main interpretations of Aristotle’s notorious claim that a woman’s deliberative faculty is ‘without authority’ (akuron) and support it with evidence from the text. I also examine what implications this insight has for our interpretation of that elusive ‘without authority’ qualification.
© 2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
