8.7 Joseph Karbowski – Deliberating Without Authority: Fortenbaugh on the Psychology of Women in Aristotle’s Politics

This paper critically examines William Fortenbaugh’s influential interpretation of Aristotle’s claim that women have deliberative faculties that ‘lack authority’ at Pol. I.13 1260a13. According to Fortenbaugh, Aristotle is essentially stating there that women are unable to control their emotions. After setting out the primary motivation for this proposal, I examine two objections that have been raised against it, ultimately arguing that they are unsuccessful. I then proceed to develop my own objection, according to which Fortenbaugh’s interpretation cannot explain why Aristotle ascribes to women partial authority in the household but not the polis. Though this implies that we should reject this common interpretation of the remark at 1260a13, I concede that there is evidence in the biological works which confirms that Aristotle does think that women are naturally unable to control their emotions. This naturally raises a question about whether the views in the Politics depend upon those in the biology or vice versa. I conclude with some reflections that must be borne in mind by any attempt to answer this important question.