Plato and Sex (eBook)

Stella Sandford is Principal Lecturer in Modern European Philosophy at Kingston University.

Acknowledgements vi

Introduction 1

1 Sex and Genos (Republic) 11

2 The Origin of Sex: Aristophanes, Freud and Lacan (Symposium)
41

3 'Eros' and 'Sexuality', Plato and
Freud (Symposium) 71

4 'I, a Man, am Pregnant and Give Birth' (Symposium)
98

5 Of Gods and Men: The Natural Beginning of Sex (Timaeus)
128

Coda: The Idea of 'Sex' 157

Notes 166

Bibliography 198

Index 207

"A groundbreaking work in feminist philosophy."

New Formations

"A serious contribution to scholarship in the field of ancient
philosophy as well as a serious contribution to feminist
philosophy."

Radical Philosophy

"Plato and Sex is a groundbreaking treatment of the role of
sex in Plato's dialogues. An extended commentary on and source of
support for recent attempts to denaturalize our concepts of sex and
gender, the book is a major contribution to feminist approaches to
Plato, to gender/sexuality studies of Plato, and to
gender/sexuality studies as a whole."

Deborah Achtenberg, University of Nevada

"This is an original new contribution to the debate on the
limits of the concepts of sex and gender. Sandford questions
traditional and feminist interpretations of Plato with equal power
and insight, and opens a new possibility for conceptualizing human
existence. This is not a request for a return to Ancient forms of
thinking but a critical argument which works for the
present."

Sara Heinämaa, University of Helsinki

"Sandford offers the intriguing idea that, in interpreting
Plato, the categories of man and woman, male and female, are not to
be construed as natural-biological ones, but as moral categories,
thus explaining the evolution (or rather, devolution) of women, as
inferior souls, from men, as superior souls. The study should prove
a welcome addition to the intersection of various disciplines,
including feminist theory, philosophy and classics."

Julie Ward, Loyola University Chicago