CHAPTER ONE
1.0 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Since time immemorial, people have held the view that men are
superior to women. This vision of male supremacy is clearly reflected in
all traditional families and societies to an extent that even women
were made to accept that they are inferior nature.
Over centuries, men and women have so internalized this culture of
male supremacy, that even when a woman is known to be in possession of
the actual power, especially in a family where the woman has the
economic power the man would still be expected to assert his authority
proudly as the captain of the family ship and the Lord of the society.
From the above background men by nature cling to authority and learn to
lord it over women.
Meanwhile, the awareness of certain biological advantages like
physical force convinces men that they are endowed with supremacy
nature and the right to control women to their own advantage.
In early time, men used because of their intellectual capabilities
to justify their supremacy. One of the most influential defence of men
is to be found in Aristotle’s writings, where he argues for the
justifiability of slavery and the domination of women. Using the analogy
of the soul and body, Aristotle argued that men are born to rule women,
just as the soul which is superior rules the body and reason rules
passion, men should rule woman. For Aristotle, “the male is by nature
superior; and the female inferior ; and the one rules and the other is
ruled”
Aristotle was making his argument from the point of ancient
biology, he felt free to universalize the inferiority of women. In
another instance he went further saying that women represent a defaced
human nature. The female he argued is “a mutilated male”
The topic “feminists critique on Aristotle’s gender perspective” is
really apt within the global crusade for women liberation and
empowerment. This crusade can be seen both in the civil societies and
among individuals. The core question is should women be treated as
persons with right, dignity and voice within the community? They should
be acknowledged as citizens members of the civil society. In recent
times, there has been an incessant cry on the plight of women in the
society, due to this cry that some feminists took as a duty to fight for
the unhealthy treatment of women which was traced right from
Aristotle’s writings.
1.1 A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ARISTOTLE
Aristotle was born in Staigeira in 384 B.C His father was a
physician and it was no doubt from interest in biology. At the age of
seventeen, Aristotle went to Athens to study and there he joined Plato’s
academy and remained for over twenty years a pupil of Plato, studying
under him in the academy. After Plato’s death, Aristotle left the
academy and began to develop his own philosophy. He eventually founded
his own institution, the lyceum, where he lectured and carried out a lot
of scientific research. The members of this school frequently help
academic discussions while walking up and down on ambulatory, and this
earned them his name peripatetic, and the school became known as the
peripatetic school. Aristotle’s main interest beside philosophy was in
the empirical sciences, especially biology. Aristotle was invited to
Macedon in 343 B.C by Philip, King of Macedon to educate his son
Alexander who was then about thirteen years old. Aristotle thus became
the tutor of the Alexander the Great.
Aristotle wrote books on a variety of subjects, logic, physics,
metaphysics, ethics, politics, psychology, biology, Aesthetics and
Rhetoric. His works on logic are collectively known as Organon, those on
physics include De Caelo and De Generatione et corruptione. His works
on psychology include the De Anima and biological works include his
History of Animals his famous work metaphysics is a collection 0f
lectures that were considered difficult to understand. His works on
Ethics include the famous Nichomachean Ethics and Magna Moralia. His
politics was based on a study of 158 different constitutions including
the constitution of Athens.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Some men up till recent times have not found the situation of
women’s predicament as a problem. They are in most cases not concerned
with the plight of women. Even in learning about women, men are not
interested, they have accepted this situation as normal and any contrary
situation is considered as abnormal. Women are valued in most cases
only for their outward appearances and services they render to men’s
passions. It is worthy noting that the women who suffer this unhealthy
treatment are our mothers, sisters, in-laws, wives and daughters.
1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The courage for this topic came from two sources, the first is the
personal experience of how people ignore women and regard them as
inferior to men and a belief that it is important to seriously what
people have said about women. Women are still in many places treated as
non persons, inferior, second class citizens and weak gender. The second
source was an increasing awareness of and interest in what seemed to be
some central tensions in feminist thinking and in the relationship
between these tension and philosophical theories.
I am to explore some of these tensions and in particular to look at
these which centre on the idea of a specifically female philosophical
perspective. Women have wanted autonomy and have appealed to
philosophical theories to express this, but some women have also argued
that many conceptions of autonomy are male defined. They have wanted
equality with men and have fought against their exclusion from theories
put forward by men and my journey in this topic is to make necessary
effort to identify and discuss what seem to me to be central tension in
feminist thinking and the way in which these have involved both a use
and a critique of philosophical theories against gender equality.
1.4 SCOPE OF STUDY
In this work emphasis will be based mainly on certain violent
practices committed against women especially African women. Some of the
various ways in which women have suffered violence will be explored both
from the societal circle and that of the individual.
1.5 METHODOLOGY
The method to be employed in this research work be expository,
evaluative and practical. On expository part, I shall expose some of
men’s actions that affect women physically and psychological. It will be
evaluative, since I am going to evaluate certain tensions in the
feminists thinking and the relationship between these tensions and
philosophical theories. Finally, it will be practical since some
research work is experimental and deals with the observable facts of our
daily life as Africans.
Meanwhile, this work is divided into five chapters; in chapter one,
general introduction on the nature of the work. In chapter two,
literature review on the topic from different philosophical theories. In
chapter three, Aristotle’s theories on soul and body as an analogy used
in as position of women and men also in his theory of women and
slavery, in the subsection of the chapter, the effect of the above
theories on women. In the fourth chapter is the ideology of feminism and
types of feminism, also in the subsection of the chapter, is strategies
for justice on women. Lastly, in the fifth chapter is the evaluation of
the whole work and conclusion of the whole work.