The Concept of Woman: The Aristotelian Revolution, 750 B. C. -A. D. 1250 Book

Philosophers, argues Prudence Allen, have always been interested in thinking about the natures of, and relationships between, men and women. While many people see gender theory as a modern invention, in reality it is anything but. In the first volume of her Concept of Woman trilogy, Allen traces ideas about women from before Plato to 1250, when Aristotelian views on gender were accepted to some degree or other by most serious thinkers in Europe.

One of the strengths of Allen's work is its use of categories: perhaps some people will find them overly simplistic, but they provide a good starting point for analyzing a thinker's approach to gender. The categories are opposites (metaphysics), generation (philosophy of science), wisdom (epistemology), and virtue (ethics). Using these categories, Allen places thinkers in one of three general perspectives: sex polarity (the sexes are different, and one is superior), sex unity (there are no meaningful differences between the sexes), and sex complementarity (the sexes are different but equal). These three perspectives can be broken down further, and many thinkers hold to the fragments of several perspectives; but they offer a good place to start.

The strength of Allen's work--its comprehensiveness--naturally has certain limitations. There are thinkers that Allen doesn't have time to cover, and debates about the work of specific philosophers she doesn't have time to address. As a result, specialists in the philosophers that Allen covers might question some of her conclusions. Regardless, this is a well-constructed and monumental work. Understanding the turns that gender theory has taken over the millennia is highly important for anyone interested in the subject today, and Allen's book is an excellent place to start.