Discussion Starter: Politics (An Ancient View on Women, the Gender Binary, and Other Dichotomies)

A common theme in Politics is Aristotle’s obsession with dichotomy, order, and clarity of boundaries. Aristotle loves category, organization, and order, and he presents all of his ideas in this manner—just and unjust, good and bad, master and servant, rich and poor, etc. For example, Aristotle declares that in any form of combined elements, there is always a ruling element and a subject element; or, in an animal, the soul is the natural ruler and the body is the natural subject. Another of his theories is that all peoples, women, and animals should be ruled. In these theories, the role of the woman in society is predetermined: she is of little importance, she is of little value, and she is the clear inferior to man. This is one of Aristotle’s justified inequalities, and this is one of the many places in his treatise where he drastically diverges from Plato. Unlike Plato, who argued for the equality of women and men in the kallipolis, Aristotle vehemently emphasizes that women are of trivial importance, equating them to children and slaves. Aristotle eventually queries if women, slaves and children even possess virtue and if they deserve to be ruled; unsurprisingly, he comes to the conclusion that all have some degree of virtue, but they all are inherently unequal. Thus, their inequality and ensuing mistreatment is justified. According to him, inequality is a necessary part of society in all class, gender, and age.

            Aristotle’s perception of women is similar to his emphasis of order: everything (including gender) is separate, distinct, and hierarchical. Women are different from men in virtue, physical appearance, ability, and status. Aristotle even states that men permanently strive to distinguish themselves from females. This observation might still be acknowledged in contemporary society, whereas his others would be met with scorn and diatribe. A particular aspect Aristotle so zealously emphasizes is the gender binary. More than perceive men and women as biological unequals, Aristotle describes their societal differences as fundamental, such as a free person to a slave. Not only is he closed to the concept of gender fluidity, but the construct of gender dichotomy is heavily reinforced. This separation prescribes to the rest of his philosophy, which excludes ambiguity and mutability in favor of rigidity, set boundaries, and reliability. Despite the rest of Aristotle’s claims that may have influenced contemporary society, his views regarding gender—both of the binary and its unequal treatment—are morally backwards and would serve to promote other issues of justified inequality today, such as race, sexuality, religion, and class. Such flexibility and mobility should be encouraged as part of progressivism, not denied and overlooked. These constructs and dichotomies that Aristotle speaks of as givens should not exist in our society, as they only serve to create “justified inequality” that become socially accepted. With this in mind, Aristotle’s philosophy should be reexamined with the modern knowledge of the dangers of unwarranted boundaries and conceptual boxes.