Plato, Aristotle, and the Concept of Woman in Early Jewish Philosophy

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to consider the relationship between ancient Greek philosophy and early Jewish philosophy in the particular concept of woman articulated by Philo, Solomon Ibn Gabirol (Avicebron), Moses Ben Maimon (Maimonides), and Leone Ebreo (Jehudah Abrabanel). While the concept of woman proposed by Jewish thought has often been approached through a study of religious writings or historical documents, there has been little written on the specifically philosophical components of the theory of woman’s identity. This paper will seek to demonstrate the similarities and differences in the concepts of woman in four Jewish philosophers who lived between the first and the sixteenth centuries AD. In addition, the relation between these views and the theories of Plato and Aristotle will be examined.