Gender and sexuality in Stoic philosophy / Malin Grahn-Wilder.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Grahn-Wilder, Malin, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sex--Philosophy.

Sex.

Stoics.

Physical Description:

xvi, 307 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Cham, Switzerland : Palgrave Macmillan, [2018]

Summary:

This book investigates the Ancient Stoic thinkers' views on gender and sexuality. A detailed scrutiny of metaphysics, ethics and political philosophy reveals that the Stoic philosophers held an exceptionally equal view of men and women's rational capacities. In its own time, Stoicism was frequently called "the manly school" of philosophy, but this volume shows that the Stoics would have also transformed many traditional notions of masculinity. Malin Grahn-Wilder compares the earlier philosophies of Plato and Aristotle to show that the Stoic position often stands out within Ancient philosophy as an exceptionally bold defense of women's possibilities to achieve the highest form of wisdom and happiness. The work argues that the Stoic metaphysical notion of human being is based on strikingly egalitarian premises, and opens new perspectives to Stoic philosophy on the whole.

Contents:

Part I. The body: gender from generation to decoration. 2. The origin of gender : myths and biology

3. Semen, Zeus, and the birth of Cosmos : gender in Stoic cosmogony and cosmology

4. The metaphysical insignificance of gender

5. Perfumed men and bearded philosophers - the Stoics on signs of gender

6. Fiery and cold natures - Stoic physiognomics of gender

Part II. Character: education of gender and therapy of sexuality. 7. Gender, character, and education from classic to Hellenistic though

8. The Stoics on equal educability of girls and boys, and the origin of gendered characteristics

9. To become properly manly - gender, happiness, and the figure of the sage

10. How to take "certain spasms" calmly - sexuality in Stoic philosophical therapy

Part III. Community: marriage, family, and human bonding. 11. Gender, politics, and economics : from Plato's utopiasnism to cynic radicalism

12. "Holding women in common" - gender in early Stoic utopias

13. Is it possible to marry and be happy? - the later Stoics on matrimony and modes of life

14. Gender and Stoic cosmopolitanism.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9783319536934

3319536931

OCLC:

969828932