Is Socrates a feminist How might one argue that he is How would they Essay

Is Socrates a feminist How might one argue that he is How would they argue that he is not Which position is right - Essay Example Significantly, to an extent Plato promoted the notion of both men and women being equal with some of his views supporting this claim specifically in book 5, where he tackled on Socrates’ view that women have plenty potential as philosopher-rulers or guardians of the state (VanHeest 1). On the support for women equality platform, the foundation of this claim is his assertion that a human should be judged on his or her soul and not on external appearance altogether. However, there are more of his views that entrench his stand on feminism i.e. that woman’s biology should not settle the question of her destiny and women’s intelligence and reason should also be utilized when it comes to the running of the state; matter of fact, these two views are the ones that serve the basis for the belief that to a certain extent Plato supports the feminist’s views (Cuizon 1). Socrates radically states that women should also get the same training in the society as men, in th e areas of geometry, gymnastics, music, and with these most people fall under the misconception that Socrates is a feminist. Considerably, he gives a lot of support to women arguing that they should also be allowed to have active roles in the republic; however, this campaign is not based on feminism or because he feels that they deserve it due to the centuries of uneven status in the society. Socrates views both men and women to be equal in all aspects except strength, and is aware that both genders fall into one of the three parts of the soul, being either spirited, rational or appetitive, hence they all have uses in the city (Vilchez 1). Additionally, he is familiar with biological essentialism noting out that even though women might not be strong as men they play a fundamental role to the city and its comprehensive success. The overall analysis of women by Socrates gives him the idea that they are of use in any perfect society despite the diversity in strength when compared to me n; however, he believes that there is no single thing that only men or women can do. Significantly, Socrates speaks against gender roles that are still relevant in the world of today stating out that no profession is suited solely for man or for woman despite the many junctures where people believe that, especially when it comes to leadership. In the world of today, the payment/salary varies with men being paid more than women and it has been hard to address this issue until recently with a significant number of people continuing to fight against the gender discriminations (VanHeest 1). One of the factors that make Socrates sound like a true biological essentialist is his notion that men are stronger than women which is typically true. The point on no one task is a job that can only be done by one sex is encouraging since nowadays there are men cooking and women who fight; nonetheless, there are still tasks that are dominated to one gender like the army’s are full of men who have proven to be stronger than women. There is often the confusion between biological essentialists and feminists for instance in this case, Socrates is more of a biological essentialist than a feminist, believing that even though men tend to be stronger than women, it does not justify the women being denied involvement to their full