Suchergebnisse

FEMALE HAS BEEN STUDIED BY THE MAJOR POLITICAL PHILOSOPHERS OF THE PAST PRIMARILY IN HER ROLE AS A MEMBER OF THE FAMILY OR HOUSEHOLD. THIS ESSAY DISCUSSES 3 PLAYS WRITTEN DURING A PERIOD WHEN A SELF-CONSCIOUS APPRAISAL OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE CITIZEN AS A MEMBER OF THE STATE & ALSO AS A MEMBER OF A FAMILY WAS FIRST EMERGING IN ANCIENT GREECE. CONVERTING PRIVATE INTO PUBLIC CONCERNS IS THE FOCUS.

THE MODERN LANGUAGE OF TYRANNY HAS DISTORTED THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GREEK TERM "TYRANNOS." IN ANCIENT GREEK THE TERM WAS ACCORDED TO THE NEW AND ANCIENT FAMILIES. TYRANNY THUS SUGGESTED A FREEDOM FROM THE PAST. REASON, AS THE GREEKS UNDERSTOOD IT, ALSO ENTAILED A BREAKING AWAY FROM THE PHYSICAL WORLD. REASON AND TYRANNY THUS WORK TOGETHER AS EXPRESSIONS OF FREEDOM, BUT IT IS A FREEDOM THAT IN ITS TRANSCENDENCE OF BOUNDARIES LEADS TO TRAGEDY. AN EXAMINATION OF SOPHOCLES "OEDIPUS" DRAWS OUT BOTH THE GLORY AND THE FAILURE OF THE INDIVIDUAL ATTEMPT OF THE POLITICAL ACTOR TO RISE ABOVE THE HISTORICAL PARTICULAR AND THE MERE BODY TO BUILD A WORLD WHERE REASON ALONE IS POWER.

THE AUTHOR HOPES IN WHAT FOLLOWS TO ACCORD THE FEMALE A RESPECTED PLACE IN THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF THE CLASSICAL ATHENIAN AUTHORS WHO, IN DISCUSSING MAN'S PUBLIC LIFE, RECOGNIZED THAT THE POLITICAL COMMUNITY COMMUNITY COULD NOT BE UNDERSTOOD WITHOUT REFERENCE TO THE FEMALE AS SOURCE AND LIMITATION OF THAT LIFE. MY QUARREL IS NOT WITH THE ANCIENT ATHENIANS FOR THEIR TREATMENT OF WOMEN; THAT IS PAST. MY QUARREL IS WITH THOSE SCHOLARS, POLITICAL THEORISTS IN PARTICULAR, WHO HAVE FAILED TO RECOGNIZE THE IMPORTANT ROLE THAT THE FEMALE PLAYS IN THE WRITINGS OF THE ANCIENT AUTHORS, A ROLE DENIED THEM IN THE ACTUAL POLITICAL AND SOCIAL WORLD OF THEIR TIME, AND WITH THOSE WHO HAVE FOUND IN THESE WRITINGS ONLY A QUAGMIRE OF MISOGYNIST PHILOSOPHIC PERSPECTIVES. BY IGNORING THE PRESENCE OF THE FEMALE OR BY DEMEANING IT, THEY DENY US THE BENEFIT OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHIES CONCEIVED WITH AN APPRECIATION OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FEMALE FOR A COMPREHENSIVE UNDERSTANDING OF OUR LIVES AS POLITICAL BEINGS.1