THE EQUALITY OF MEN AND WOMEN IN PLATO'S REPUBLIC: PAIDEIA, PHYSIS, AND THE DIALECTICAL TEST OF 455C

Abstract

The problem of equality between men and women in Plato's Republic cannot be resolved without confronting passage 455c–d: read literally, it appears to assert male superiority precisely where the egalitarian argument most demands consistency. The criterion established at 454c–d, according to which only differences in nature relevant to a specific function can justify assigning different functions or withholding the education required to carry them out, is precisely what the passage puts to the test. I argue that it functions as a dialectical test: the moment at which Glaucon fails to apply this criterion and responds instead on the basis of socially observed performance under an asymmetric education. Once the literal reading is rejected, it becomes possible to state the principle of 454c–d without concession: no difference attributable to sex as such is relevant to the capacities required for civic function. Nor do the objections grounded in the Timaeus, in interpretations that emphasize physiological differences between the sexes, or in the persistence of a patriarchal vocabulary in the Republic itself undermine this egalitarian conclusion.