The Concept of Woman Vol 1: The Aristotelian Revolution 750 B.C. - A.D. 1250 (Volume 1)

About this book

This pioneering study by Sister Prudence Allen traces the concept of woman in relation to man in more than seventy philosophers from ancient and medieval traditions. The fruit of ten years work this study uncovers four general categories of questions asked by philosophers for two thousand years. These are the categories of opposites of generation of wisdom and of virtue. Sister Prudence Allen traces several recurring strands of sexual and gender identity within this period. Ultimately she shows the paradoxical influence of Aristotle on the question of woman and on a philosophical understanding of sexual coomplemenarity. Supplemented throughout with helpful charts diagrams and illustrations this volume will be an important resource for scholars and students in the fields of womens studies philosophy history theology literary studies and political science.