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Chapter 5 - Arete of Cyrene and the Role of Women in Philosophical Lineage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2023

By
Katharine R. O’Reilly
Edited by
Katharine R. O'Reilly  and
Caterina Pellò
Katharine R. O'Reilly
Affiliation:
Toronto Metropolitan University
Caterina Pellò
Affiliation:
Université de Genève
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Summary

Arete of Cyrene was daughter and disciple of the founder of the Cyrenaic school and mother and teacher of the figure who codified its principles. Our sources emphasize her as a link in the intellectual chain connecting the school it its Socratic roots, to the detriment of preserving her own philosophical ideas. In this chapter, I make a case for her philosophical contribution to the Cyrenaics, as revealed in a careful reading of the few sources we have. I follow this with methodological reflections on how we might access a figure like Arete. I argue that this task requires and licenses the adoption of severed methodological strategies related to an added open-mindedness to source material. I reflect on how these methodological points contribute to a wider project of recovering the thought of marginalized figures.

Keywords

AreteCyrenaicancient philosophyancient women philosophershistory of philosophymethodologyAristippushedonismancient biographyphilosophy as a way of life
Type
Chapter
Information
Ancient Women Philosophers
Recovered Ideas and New Perspectives
 , pp. 96 - 113
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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