Summary Of V Of The Republic

In book V of the Republic, Plato covers many different claims that Socrates makes about women. The book begins with Socrates identifying both the soul, and the just city. As he is about to continue on in an attempt to continue on finding the constitutions of these, the interlocutor Polemarchus interrupts him. He speaks out and questions Socrates on a previously passive statement about spouses and children being in common. Socrates decides to follow through with Polemarchus’ request, and begins to discuss the lifestyle of the guardians, and how guardians come to be. The discussion becomes revolved around the topic of women for some time, and how they stand against men in the just city. Many claims point to how women can be considered equal,
It begins with Socrates explaining his belief that there should be fundamental equality between men and women. By this, he goes on to explain how he believes that women should be able to be trained alongside men, receiving the same education and some of the same political stances as men do. There is a large conversation within the passage in which Socrates is providing the many ways in which men and women are same in their natural states, despite small differences such as the man being the one who impregnates and the woman being the one to give birth. He provides an example in regard to the hunting animals, and how the male and female are capable of carrying out the same task; only the female will be seen as the weaker one in doing so. The same sort of thought process is carried out for human women and men; women are just as capable of certain tasking as men, if taught properly how to do so, they will just be the weaker and the males the stronger. He poses a large conversation based around the nature of men and women, and comes to the terms that women are of the same nature as men within the relevant properties. He goes on to argue that these relevant qualities are within the divisions of the appetitive, rational and the spirited souls. As men, women also fall within these divisions, and therefore he believes that the city could make use of them following the divisions. Although this claim seems