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Some historical developments

Rise of the Roman Empire; conquest of
Greece completed 31 BCE

PHIL111: Philosophy, Sex,

and Thinking

c. 4 BCE Birth of Jesus of Nazareth

4. Medieval Stirrers (1)

Theological background
Hildegard of Bingen

c. 65 CE Death of St. Paul in Rome

c. 35 CE Conversion of Saul/Paul;
Christianity -> non-Jewish centres

Growth of Christian Church; absorption

of philosophical ideas from Greeks
Some parallel developments in Jewish
intellectual thought

Some influential figures

Philo of Alexandria

Philo of Alexandria (13BCE-54CE):

Jewish philosopher in Greek settlement
of Alexandria in North Egypt - used
Greek philosophy to interpret Jewish
Bible
Augustine (354-430CE): Bishop of Hippo
(now in Algeria); influenced in youth by
Manicheeism and Neoplatonism;
conversion -> ardent defender of
Christian doctrine
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Why does the woman first touch the tree and

eat of its fruit, and afterwards the man also
take of it?
It was fitting that man should rule over
immortality and everything good, but woman
over death and everything vile. In the
allegorical sense, however, woman is a
symbol of sense, and man, of mind. Now of
necessity sense comes into contact with the
sense-perceptible; and by the participation of
sense, things pass into the mind

(Questions and Answers on Genesis, Bk 1, 37)

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Philo on the sexes

Philo on sex in the soul

There is in the soul a male and female element
just as there is in families, the male
corresponding to the men, the female to the
women. The male soul assigns itself to God
alone as the Father and Maker of the Universe
The female clings to all that is born and
perishes; it stretches out its faculties like a hand
to catch blindly at what comes in its way, and
gives the clasp of friendship to the world of
created things '
(Special Laws I, 37)

The soul has, as it were, a dwelling, partly mens

quarters, partly womens quarters. Now for the
men there is a place where properly dwell the
masculine thoughts (that are) wise, sound, just,
prudent, pious, filled with freedom and boldness,
and kind to wisdom. And the womens quarters
are a place where womanly opinions go about and
dwell, being followers of the female sex. And the
female sex is irrational and akin to bestial
passions, fear, sorrow, pleasure and desire, from
which ensue incurable weaknesses and
indescribable diseases.
(Questions and Answers on Genesis, Bk IV, 15) 6

St. Augustine of Hippo on the

sexes

Augustine on flesh and spirit

You created man male and female, but

in your spiritual grace, they are as one.
Your grace no more discriminates
between them according to their sex
than it draws distinction between Jew
and Greek or slave and freeman.
(Confessions, Bk XII, 23)
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Flesh stands for the wife, similarly

spirit sometimes stands for the
husband. Why? Because one governs
and the other is governed, one ought to
command and the other to serve.
(Homily on St. Johns Gospel)

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Augustine again

Upshot for Medieval Sexology

And as in mans soul there is one

element which rules and directs and
another that is subject and obeys, so in
the corporeal realm woman was made
for man. In her mind and rational
understanding she is of equal nature
with the male, but in the gender of her
body she is subjected to that of the male
- much as the appetite for action is
subjected to the reasoning minds
concern that the action should be right.

A mixed heritage of sex-polarity, sexcomplementarity, and sex-unity theories

(see P. Allen, The Concept of Woman
Vol 1, esp. pp. 213-236)

(Confessions, Bk XIII, 32) 9

Hildegard of Bingen

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Breaking the mould

Born 1098, Bermersheim,

Germany
Visions from early age
Entered hermitage in teens
Became abbess of female
Benedictine community at 38

1. By speaking out in the church as a

woman, despite Biblical prohibition >

Established independent
community near Bingen 1150
Preaching tours 1158-70
Died 1179, aged 81.
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And I heard the voice saying to me from the living

fire: O you who are wretched earth and, as a
woman, untaught in all learning of earthly teachers
and unable to read literature with philosophical
understanding, you are nonetheless touched by My
light, which kindles in you an inner fire like a burning
sun; cry out and relate and write these My mysteries
that you see and hear in mystical visions. So do not
be timid, but say those things you understand in the
Spirit as I speak them through you; so that those
who should have shown My people righteousness
may be ashamed. Therefore, O diffident mind, who
are taught inwardly by mystical inspiration, though
because of Eves transgression you are trodden on
by the masculine sex, speak of that fiery work this
sure vision has shown you. (Scivias, Bk 2, Vision 1)

Breaking the mould

1. By speaking out in the church as a
woman, despite Biblical prohibition
2. By promoting idea of feminine as important aspect of the Divine (Holy Wisdom,
Love Divine, Knowledge of God) >

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Divine Wisdom
On top of this dome you see a very beautiful
figure standing. This is to say that this figure was
in the Most High Father, giving counsel in the
formation of all creatures made in heaven and on
earth; so that she is the great ornament of God
and the broad stairway of all the other virtues that
live in Him, joined in sweet embrace And this
figure represents the Wisdom of God, for through
her, all things are created and ruled by God.
(Scivias, Bk 3, Vision 9) 15

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Sapientia (Sophia), Wisdom of God

One of Hildegards
illuminations Divine
Wisdom as female
figure enclosing human
beings in her arms.

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Hildegard illumination

Knowledge of God
And this image signifies the knowledge
of God; for she oversees all people and
all things in heaven and earth. And she
is so bright and glorious that you cannot
look at her face or her garments for the
splendour with which she shines. For
she is terrible with the terror of the
avenging lightning, and gentle with the
goodness of the bright sun
(Scivias Bk 3, Vision 4)

Cosmic egg if
the cosmos is an
egg, what could
this imply about
the nature of its
source?

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The Fall
Eve whose soul was innocent, for she had
been raised out of innocent Adam, bearing in
her body the whole multitude of the human
race was invaded by the Devil through the
seduction of the serpent for her own downfall.
Why was this? Because he knew that the
susceptibility of the woman would be more
easily conquered than the strength of the
man; and he saw that Adam burned so
vehemently in his holy love for Eve that if he,
the Devil, conquered Eve, Adam would do
whatever she said to him.
(Scivias Book 1, Vision 2, 10)
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Breaking the mould

1. By speaking out in the church as a
woman, despite Biblical prohibition
2. By promoting idea of feminine as important aspect of the Divine (Holy Wisdom,
Love Divine, Knowledge of God)
3. By revising conventional theories about
male and female physiology and
psychology >
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The 4 elements

Hildegard on Adam and Eve

Fire, Air, Earth, Water

Aristotle associated fire and air (warm
elements) with male; earth and water
(cold elements) with female (Allen, pp.
93-95)
Hildegard associated earth with male
(Adam made from clay, works the earth);
air with female (female more airy, taken
from male - Cause et Cure, p.43; Allen, pp.
296-7)

God made the human being from clay. But the

man was transformed from clay to flesh and
therefore he is the particular cause of and the
ruler over created things. He works the earth
so that it brings forth fruit. There is strength in
his bones, blood vessels and flesh. His head
is whole and his skin is thick. He has his
reproductive strength within him and
produces semen as the sun brings forth light.
>>

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Changing the sex of the

elements

Woman, however, was not transformed

because taken from flesh she remained
flesh. Therefore a more artful work was
given to her to be done with her hands.
She is airy, as it were. She carries the
child in her womb and gives birth to it.
She has a divided head and thin skin,
so that the child she is carrying in her
womb can get air.
(Cause et Cure, p.43)
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Aristotle

Hildegard

Fire - Male
Air - Male
Water - Female
Earth - Female

Fire - Male
Air - Female
Water - Female
Earth - Male
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Procreation
Strong semen + proper affection in both >
boy, intelligent and virtuous
Strong semen + proper affection in man only
> boy, weak, non-virtuous
Strong semen + no affection in either > boy,
bitter
Thin semen + proper affection in both > girl,
virtuous
Thin semen + proper affection in one only >
girl
Thin semen + no affection in either > girl,
bitter
(CC, pp.51-2) 25

Sex and reason

A male who has sex before 15 will easily
become unreasonable or empty- headed, his
knowledge will diminish, he will readily
develop an unsound and intemperate
disposition all this because he has not yet
reached sufficient maturity to emit mature
semen.
(CC p.55)
If a girl has sex before 14, she will easily lose
her sense of decency and modesty and
understanding of what is appropriate all on
account of immature pleasure and freedom.
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(CC p.55)

Mans love, womans love

[Mans] love with its blazing heat,
compared with womans love is like the
fire of blazing mountains that is difficult to
extinguish compared with a wood fire that
is easily extinguished. Womans love
compared with mans love is like sweet
warmth proceeding from the sun
(CC, p.53)
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The 4 humours
Sanguine (blood), Phlegmatic (phlegm),
Choleric (yellow bile), Melancholic
(black bile)
Previously associated assexually with
personality types
Hildegard provides separate classifications for men and women, taking
account of physiological sex differences
(CC, pp.56-65)
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Personality types: Choleric

Personality types: Melancholic

Men: intelligent, virile and passionately

interested in sex with women

Men: fatty brain; dense black blood; bitter;

greedy; lusty; unrestrained with women

Women: intelligent and kind, heavy menstrual

flow, faithful as wives but appearance not
attractive to men

Women: haggard flesh, bluish blood, healthier

unmarried, sometimes infertile

Phlegmatic

Sanguine:
Men: lovely complexion, self-controlled in sex;
honourable and harmonious with women;
calm when celibate
Women: sometimes plump; clear complexion,
capable of self-control; fertile; need to be with
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men

Rationality and hair

That human beings are not hairy stems from
their rationality. Because in the place of hair
and feathers they have rationality with which
they cover themselves and fly wherever they
want to. But that the male has a beard and
more hair on his body than a woman is
because the male is formed from earth and
has greater strength and warmth and is
everywhere more active than woman But
woman is without a beard because she is
formed from the flesh of man and is
subordinate to man and lives in greater quiet.
Thus reptiles too, that are born from the
earth, are not hairy
(CC, p.51)

Men: muddy complexion, soft flesh, strong,

all talk, tend to be impotent, not envious,
mentally slow, not virile
Women: not fleshy, severe expression,
industrious, virile mind, moderate menstrual
flow, fertile, attractive to men

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Is all this philosophical?

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Hildegard is a systematic thinker!

She revises earlier theories of physics,
physiology and psychology that either
denigrate female or treat male as
paradigm of species
Her theories of conception and of the
humours are inductive - reasoning from
examples to general principles
She offers alternative explanations of
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authoritative scriptural texts.

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What about sex and thinking?

Differences within the sexes are just as
important as differences between the
sexes
No suggestion that overall one sex is
less intelligent than the other
Rather deterministic view - virtue and
intelligence in child depend on quality of
parental affection at conception
Sex before full maturity diminishes
reason and knowledge!

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To do this week
Read Hildegard reading, ready for
discussion at Wednesday lecture
Read Christine de Pizan readings, and
Romance of the Rose reading, for
tutorial on Wednesday afternoon
Submit response to Male and Female
Brain reading by end of Wednesday
Decide on your essay topic and start
planning and reading
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