Abstract:

My research aims to describe a querelle des femmes among members of the first Socratic schools.
By querelle des femmes, I understand a debate identifiable in texts, apothegms, testimonies and anecdotes on the virtue of women, in particular regarding their ability to develop philosophical virtue. In this talk I shall address Antisthenes’ position within the querelle on three stages: (i) an analysis of Xenophon’s Symposium to the conclusion that Antisthenes is portrayed as skeptical about men being capable of teaching women; (ii) an assessment of the extant information on his works that shows his defense of an active role of women in their own education; (iii) a comparison of sources showing that both Antisthenes “women’s agency” thesis and his approach to logic are key features in the description of Hipparchia as a philosopher.