Unit- 1

• Table of Contents-
1. Plato on Marriage and family
2. Russell on Marriage and Family
3. Contemporary trends
4. Feminism

Unit I-
Plato
on
Marriage and Family
 Plato’s Introduction
• Plato (428 BCE–c. 348 BCE) Ancient Greek philosopher
Plato was a student of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle.
• His writings explored justice, beauty and equality, and also
contained discussions in aesthetics, political philosophy,
theology, cosmology, epistemology and the philosophy of
language.
• Plato founded the Academy in Athens, one of the first
institutions of higher learning in the Western world.

• The first, or early, period occurs during Plato's travels (399-387 B.C.E.). The
Apology of Socrates seems to have been written shortly after Socrates's death.
Other texts in this time period include Protagoras, Euthyphro, Hippias Major and
Minor and Ion. In these dialogues, Plato attempts to convey Socrates's philosophy
and teachings.
• In the second, or middle, period, Plato writes in his own voice on the central ideals
of justice, courage, wisdom and moderation of the individual and society. The
Republic was written during this time with its exploration of just government ruled
by philosopher kings.
• In the third, or late, period, Socrates is relegated to a minor role and Plato takes a
closer look at his own early metaphysical ideas. He explores the role of art,
including dance, music, drama and architecture, as well as ethics and morality. In
his writings on the Theory of Forms, Plato suggests that the world of ideas is the
only constant and that the perceived world through our senses is deceptive and
changeable.
The 3 Waves in Plato’s Republic
• In Plato’s Republic book 5 , Plato’s has
divided the city in to 3 waves or classes-
1. Same education for men and women
2. Community of women and children
3. The Philosopher- King

Republic book V
• Socrates asserts that men and women ought to receive the same education
and ought to fulfill the same roles within society. In the context of Ancient
Greece, where women are prohibited from receiving an education and
participating in business and politics, this is a radical notion.
• Socrates admits that men and women have different natures, and that
different natures ought to have different pursuits
• the difference between men and women – primarily physical strength –
does not restrict women from participating in society as guardians, laborers,
or even soldiers.
• it is in the best interest of the State for both the men and the women to be as
good as possible; and therefore, both the men and the women must be
educated.
• “The wives of our guardians are to be common, and their children are
to be common, and no parent is to know his own child, nor any child
his parent.”
• To accomplish this, the State should arrange orgiastic festivals
throughout the year. At these festivals, anonymous partners will
engage in sexual intercourse with each other.
• When a woman gives birth, she will not know who the father is.
Furthermore, nurses will immediately take the baby away from the
mother and place the baby among other newborns so that the mother
will not know which baby is hers.

• To avoid rampant unintentional incest, guardians

must consider every child born between seven and
ten months after their copulation as their own.
• These children, in turn, must consider that same
group of adults as their parents, and each other as
brothers and sisters. Sexual relations between these
groups is forbidden.
• The result of this process, according to Socrates, is that everyone will regard
the other citizens within the State as their brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers,
daughters, and sons.
• This is desirable because people are less inclined to commit wrongs against
their family members than against strangers and more inclined to care about
their family members’ well-being than the well-being of strangers.
• An individual within such a State as Socrates describes will apply these
beneficial feelings of kinship to all citizens rather than to a few. Thus, the
strong bonds of kinship will be used to unite all citizens toward a common end
– the attainment of the greatest good for the entire State.

• The final question to be asked is whether this is a plausible requirement—whether anyone can
be asked to adhere to this lifestyle, with no family ties, no wealth, and no romantic interludes.
• But before answering this question, Socrates deals with a few other issues pertaining to the
guardians’ lifestyle, all of them relating to war. He states that children training to become
guardians should be taken to war so they can watch and learn the art as any young apprentice
does. He recommends that they be put on horseback so that they can escape in the case of
defeat.
• He also explains that anyone who behaves cowardly in war will be stripped of their role as a
guardian.
• He ends by discussing the appropriate manner in which to deal with defeated enemies. When
it comes to Greek enemies, he orders that the vanquished not be enslaved and that their lands
not be destroyed in any permanent way. This is because all Greeks are really brothers, and
eventually there will be peace between them again. When it comes to barbarian—i.e.,
non-Greek—enemies, anything goes.
 Plato’s view
• Plato advocates the equal education of women in Book V, but it would be
inaccurate to think that Plato believed in the modern notion of equality
between the sexes.
• He states in this section that women are inferior to men in all ways,
including intellect. He could not have thought that all women were inferior
to all men, or else dividing women into the three classes would make no
sense.
• Instead, he believed that within each class the women are inferior to the
men. So, for instance, guardian women would be superior to men of the
two other classes, but inferior to most men of their own class.

• With regard to the larger topic of family life, one might ask why common
families are limited to the guardian class.
• Given that this arrangement is offered as a guarantee for patriotism, a
preemptive strike against divided loyalties, why should it only apply to this
class of society? The first thing to point out in relation to this topic is that
the restrictions on family life are probably meant to apply to both the
guardian and the auxiliary classes.
• These two classes are, after all, raised and educated together until
adolescence when the rulers are chosen out as the best among the group, so
chances are that their lifestyles are the same as well.
• Plato is often sloppy with the term “guardian,” using it to apply sometimes
only to the rulers and other times to both rulers and warriors. It is likely that
the restriction on personal wealth also applies to auxiliaries.
• he only class left out of this requirement is the producers. Since the
producers have little to do with the political life of the city—they do not
have to make any decisions pertaining to the city, or to fight on behalf of
the city—their patriotism does not matter.
• Just as we saw that a courageous farmer does no good for the city as a
whole, a patriotic craftsman or doctor is irrelevant from the standpoint of
the society’s good. The producers’ only political task is to obey.