Women Thinkers in Antiquity and the Middle Ages

Women Thinkers in Antiquity and the Middle Ages

Instructor: Peter Adamson

Educational aims

• To introduce students to a range of female thinkers in the societies of ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, ancient India, and also the Islamic and Latin Christian Middle Ages.

• To encourage students to reflect on the historical and intellectual contexts in which female thinkers worked, including ideas about the intellectual capacities of women, which determined their opportunities for participation in elite discourses.

• To encourage students to use the source materials critically, in particular with reference to questions of authenticity and the motives of male authors in reporting the ideas of female thinkers (both real and fictional).

Learning outcomes

By the end of this module, a successful student is expected to be able to:

• Demonstrate critical engagement with and understanding of ancient and medieval texts by, and about, female thinkers, drawing on both primary literature in translation and on secondary material.

• Analyze the ideas of historical figures within a wider historical context.

• Communicate ideas and findings clearly and persuasively in writing.

• Format assignments and reference material appropriately.

Module description

Intellectual history of antiquity and the Middle Ages is typically conducted with sparse attention to women authors, and women thinkers whose works are not preserved. This module will challenge that approach, by focusing on the achievements and contributions of female thinkers spanning a period from classical antiquity, with figures like Aspasia and Diotima, down to Christine de Pizan at the dawn of the European Renaissance. Some attention will also be paid to other cultural traditions, especially India and the Islamic world, though the richest materials are to be found in the Greek and Latin textual traditions. Many of the figures covered are, in a broad sense of the term, “philosophers,” but figures more usually described as “mystics,” such as Rabia and Hildegard of Bingen will also be included.

At the same time, it will be asked what limits and pitfalls may confront the project of recovering the thought of women from these past ages. How should deal with texts and reports that are of dubious authenticity (as with a set of letters ascribed to female Pythagoreans), with figures who may be simply fictional (Plato’s Diotima, for instance), or historically genuine figures who are presented only in works by men (for instance Augustine’s mother Monica).

An unusual feature of the module is that students will be asked to listen to the relevant episodes of the History of Philosophy podcast, which is hosted by the instructor, and bring information from that podcast series to bear on classroom discussion.

Teaching

There will be three components to the teaching:

• A weekly, pre-recorded 50 minute long video lecture. This will be available to students online to watch at a time of their choosing, but it is required that they have viewed the lecture before that week’s tutorial.

• A tutorial led by a PG instructor, focusing on discussion of primary texts.

• An assigned podcast from the History of Philosophy series ( Students are encouraged to listen to further episodes, ideally the whole series.

Assessment

Two essays of 1500 words each (???), one on an “ancient” topic (weeks 1-5), one on a “medieval” topic (weeks 6-10).

Course schedule and readings

Week 1: Classical antiquity (Pythagoreans, Aspasia)

Reading(s): Excerpts from A.B. Huizenga, Moral Education for Women in the Pastoral and Pythagorean Letters (Leiden: 2013), and G. Boys-Stones and C. Rowe, The Circle of Socrates: Readings in the First-Generation Socratics (Indianapolis: 2013), ch.8.

Further reading: P. Adamson, Classical Philosophy (Oxford: 2014), ch.42. A.B. Huizenga, Moral Education for Women in the Pastoral and Pythagorean Letters (Leiden: 2013). D. Nails, “The Pythagorean Women Philosophers: Ethics of the Household,” in K.J. Boudouris (ed.), Ionian Philosophy (Athens: 1989), 291-7. S. Pomeroy, Pythagorean Women: Their History and Writings (Baltimore: 2013).

Podcast episode: Episode 4, Pythagoras.

Week 2: Plato and Aristotle on women

Reading(s): Excerpts from Plato, Republic, Aristotle, Politics.

Further reading:J. Annas, “Plato’s Republic and Feminism,” in J.K. Ward, Feminism and Ancient Philosophy (New York: 1996), 3-12. M. Deslauriers, “Sexual Difference in Aristotle’s Politics and his Biology,” The Classical World 102 (2009), 215-31. M. Deslauriers, “Aristotle on the Virtues of Slaves and Women,” Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 25 (2003), 222-9. R. Mayhew, The Female in Aristotle’s Biology: Reason or Rationalization (Chicago: 2004).C.A. Freeland (ed.), Feminist Interpretations of Aristotle (University Park: 1998).

Podcast episode: Episode 25, Plato’s Political Philosophy. Also strongly recommended: Episode 48, Aristotle’s Political Philosophy.

Week 3: Late antiquity (Hypatia, Macrina, etc.)

Reading(s): Excerpts from M.E. Waithe, A History of Women Philosophers: Volume 1, 600 BC-500 AD (Dordrecht: 1987).

Further reading:A. Bernard, “The Alexandrian School: Theon of Alexandria and Hypatia,” in L. Gerson (ed.), The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity (Cambridge: 2010),417-36.E.A. Clark, The Life of Melania the Younger (Lewiston: 1984), 153-70. M. Nussbaum, “The Incomplete Feminism of Musonius Rufus, Platonist, Stoic and Roman,” in M. Nussbaum and J. Sihvola (eds), The Sleep of Reason (Chicago: 2002), 283-326. S. Swain, Economy, Family and Society from Rome to Islam: a Critical Edition, English Translation, and Study of Bryson’s ‘Management of the Estate’ (Cambridge: 2013).

Podcast episode: Episode 97, the Last Pagans. Also strongly recommended: Episode 104, the Cappadocians.

Week 4: India

Reading(s): Excerpts from the Upaniṣads.

Further reading:K.R. Blackstone, Women in the Footsteps of the Buddha (Delhi: 1998). S. Brodbeck and B. Black (eds), Gender and Narrative in the Mahābhārata (London: 2007). J. Fitzgerald, “Nun Befuddles King, Shows Karmayoga Does Not Work: Sulabhā’s Refutation of King Janaka at MBh 12.308,” Journal of Indian Philosophy 30 (2002), 641-77. S.E. Lindquist, “Gender at Janaka’s Court: Women in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad Reconsidered,” Journal of Indian Philosophy 36 (2008), 405-26. R. Vanita, “The Self is Not Gendered: Sulabha’s Debate with King Janaka,” NWSAJournal 15 (2003), 76-93.

Podcast episode: History of Philosophy in India, Episode 16, Women in Ancient India.

Week 5: Islam

Reading(s): Excerpts from the writings of Rabiʿa.

Further reading:L. Ahmed, Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate (New Haven: 1992). S. Joseph et al. (eds), Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures (Leiden: 2003). M. Smith, Muslim Women Mystics (Oxford: 2001). R. Roded, Women in Islam and the Middle East: a Reader (London: 1999). A. Sayeed, Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam (Cambridge: 2013).

Podcast episode: Episode 192, Woman Scholars in Islam.

Week 6: Heloise and Hildegard of Bingen.

Reading(s): Excerpts from Hildegard of Bingen, Selected Writings, trans. M. Atherton (London: 2001) and B. Radice and M.T. Clanchy, The Letters of Abelard and Heloise (London: 2003).

Further reading:B.M. Kienzle, D. Stoudt and G. Ferzoco (eds), A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen (Leiden: 2014).S. Flanagan, Hildegard of Bingen 1098-1179: a Visionary Life (London: 1998). C.J. Mews, Abelard and Heloise (New York: 2005). B. Wheeler (ed.), Listening to Heloise: the Voice of a Twelfth-Century Woman (New York: 2000).

Podcast episode: Episode 221, Hildegard of Bingen. Also strongly recommended: Episode 208, Heloise and Abelard.

Week 7: Hadewijch and Mechthild of Magdeburg

Reading(s): Excerpts from C. Hart (trans.), Hadewijch: the Complete Works (New York: 1980).

Further reading: C.W. Bynum, Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender and the Human Body in Medieval Religion (New York: 1992). A. Hollywood, The Soul as Virgin Wife: Mechthild of Magdeburg, Marguerite Porete and Meister Eckhart (Notre Dame: 1995). E. Petroff (ed.), Medieval Women’s Visionary Literature (New York: 1986).

Podcast episode: Episode 237, Hadewijch and Mechthild of Magdeburg.

Week 8: Marguerite Porete

Reading(s):E. Colledge et al. (trans.), Marguerite Porette: The Mirror of Simple Souls (Notre Dame: 1999).

Further reading: D. Kangas, “Dangerous Joy: Marguerite Porete’s Good-bye to the Virtues,” The Journal of Religion 91 (2011), 299-319. J. Maguire Robinson, Nobility and Annihilation in Marguerite Porete’s Mirror of Simple Souls (Albany: 2002). M.G. Sargent, “The Annihilation of Marguerite Porete,”Viator 28 (1997), 253–79.

Podcast episode: Episode 267, Marguerite Porete.

Week 9: Julian of Norwich

Reading(s): Excerpts from D.N. Baker (ed.), The Showings of Julian of Norwich (New York: 2005).

Further reading:L. Herbert McAvoy (ed.), ACompaniontoJulianofNorwich (Cambridge:2008). N. Watson, “The Middle English Mystics,” in The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature (Cambridge: 1999), 539-65. S.J. McEntire, JulianofNorwich:ABookofEssays (NewYork: 1998).

Podcast episode: Episode 291, English Mysticism. Also strongly recommended: Episode 293, Gender and Sexuality.

Week 10: Christine de Pizan

Reading(s): Excerpts from C. Cannon Willard, The Writings of Christine de Pizan (New York: 1994).

Further reading:R. Brown-Grant, Christine de Pizan and the Moral Defence of Women: Reading Beyond Gender (Cambridge: 1999).C. Cannon Willard, Christine de Pizan: her Life and Works (New York: 1984). K. Langdon Forhan, The Political Theory of Christine de Pizan (Aldershot: 2002). N. Margolis, An Introduction to Christine de Pizan (Gainesville: 2011).

Podcast episode: Episode on Christine de Pizan (in 2017-18 not yet released on the podcast: available to students as a written script). Also strongly recommended: Episode 254, Romance of the Rose and Episode 298, Jean Gerson.

General Bibliography

• C.W. Bynum, “Religious Women in the Later Middle Ages,” in J. Raitt (ed.), Christian Spirituality: High Middle Ages and Reformation (New York, 1987), 121-39.

• P. Dronke, Women Writers of the Middle Ages (Cambridge: 1984).

• C.A. Freeland, “Feminism and Ideology in Ancient Philosophy,” Apeiron 33 (2000), 365-406.

• R. Hawley, “The Problem of Women Philosophers in Ancient Greece,” in L. J. Archer et al. (eds.), Women in Ancient Societies (London: 1994), 70–87.

• R. Mayhew, The Female in Aristotle’s Biology: Reason or Rationalization (Chicago: 2004).

• B. McGinn, The Flowering of Mysticism: Men and Women in the New Mysticism, 1200-1350 (New York: 1998).

• A. Minnis and R. Voaden (eds), Medieval Holy Women in the Christian Tradition c.1100-c.1500 (Turnhout: 2010).

• M.E. Waithe, A History of Women Philosophers: Volume 1, 600 BC-500 AD (Dordrecht: 1987).

• J.K. Ward (ed.), Feminism and Ancient Philosophy (New York: 1996).