The Intelligent Troglodyte’s Guide to Plato’s Republic, 2016a

objection, first, by noting that some natural differences between persons are
irrelevant to the successful performance of some jobs (whether one is bald or longhaired,
for instance, is irrelevant to making shoes), and second, by claiming that
the natural differences between the sexes are irrelevant to doing the work of the
guardians. It may well be that “one sex,” the male, “shows greater mastery than
the other in pretty much every area”; nevertheless, he insists, “many women are
better than many men at many things.” It is not clear what Socrates means in
suggesting that men are superior to women – perhaps that if one studied the
distribution of attributes such as strength, intelligence, and spiritedness in the
population it would turn out that the median for men would be higher than for
women (or something like this) – but whatever he means exactly, his point is that,
with respect to doing the work of the guardians, some women are by nature firstrate.
And this is all that matters when it comes to selecting guardians for the city.
Would it be problematic for a guardian to be married to a non-guardian?
Is there anything wrong with men and women exercising together naked?
Can our present social conventions regarding nakedness – no exposed
genitals, no exposed female breasts, etc. – be justified?
What do you understand masculinity and femininity to be? Are these traits
good? Should boys be raised to be masculine and girls to be feminine?
Is it true that natural differences between men and women are irrelevant to
doing the work of the guardians? Do the strongest, smartest, and most
spirited of women belong on the battlefield alongside the strongest,
smartest, and most spirited of men?
Is it true, on any reasonable interpretation of the phrase, that men show
“greater mastery” than women “in pretty much every area”?
What do we mean nowadays by “discriminating against” someone, and
what makes this a form of injustice?
Socrates argues that there is no good reason why men and women who are
similar in soul should not study together, train together, and work together.
This suggestion, a remarkable innovation for Socrates’ day, is fairly
common practice in contemporary America. And yet, we still set limitations.