Women in the Socratic Tradition

Socrates represents an important turning point not only in the history of philosophy, but also in the morality of gender inequality, for he advanced the unprecedented thesis that the virtue of men and women is the same. The arguments supporting such a thesis, however, are controversial: different authors understand Socrates' legacy differently; the arguments do not necessarily account for the universality implied in the thesis; and, in challenging conventions, Socratic literature tends to blur gender distinctions. Be that as it may, these sources undeniably present women as exemplars of the philosophical life. This volume brings together a group of highly qualified scholars to provide a careful analysis of this evidence and a detailed assessment of the Socratic debate on gender, divided into three sections: Socratic Women; Socratics on Women; and Socratic Philosophy as a Woman. It sheds light on a topic rarely explored in scholarship on Socratism: women both as philosophers and as a philosophical motif.