Aspasia and Aristotle:
The First Lady and the Father of Greek Rhetoric
November 6, 2006
Grace Bernhardt and Shreelina Ghosh
Aspasia’s Background
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Non-Athenian Greek female
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From Miletus, one of the Greek colonies in Ionia
“it is logical to assume that she came in contact
with early philosophical thought in some form”
(J&O, 10)
Arrived in Athens in mid-440s B.C.E.
Sources: Aspasia: Rhetoric, Gender, and Colonial Ideology by Susan Jarratt and Rory Ong
Aspasia, pages 56-66 of Bizzell and Herzberg
Aspasia’s Background
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Companion of Pericles, the democratic
leader of Athens
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As foreigner, forbidden from marrying Pericles
Jarrat and Ong claim she did not fit categories
for Athenian women of wives, concubines,
hetaerae, or prostitutes; often mislabeled a
mistress or courtesan
Did she run a house of prostitution? Was she
a courtesan or hetaera? Does it matter?
Aspasia’s Background
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Teacher of Rhetoric
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Helped Pericles compose Funeral Oration
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Taught Socrates (?)
Developed the Socratic method (?)
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Kennedy makes no reference to Aspasia’s influence when
describing the Funeral Oration attributed to Pericles (204)
“It is easy to imagine that such an indirect method
originated with a woman who was legally powerless, in a
compromised and vulnerable position, but who attempted
to advise and influence men of great power.” (B&H, 59)
None of her texts have survived
Aspasia in Classical Sources
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Several paragraphs of narrative in Plutarch’s
life of Pericles
Oration attributed to her in Plato’s dialogue
Menexenus
Allusions to Aspasia also made by four of
Socrates’ pupils
In works by Athenaeus
Dialogue attributed to her by Xenophon
Jarratt and Ong’s Purposes
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“To reconstruct Aspasia as a rhetorician of
fifth-century B.C.E.” (9)
Part of a larger goal of “recovering women in
the history of rhetoric” (10)
To argue that Aspasia “marks the intersection
of discourses on gender and colonialism,
production and reproduction, rhetoric and
philosophy” (J&O, 10)
Bizzell and Herzberg’s Purposes
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To explore the complexity of the role of
women in ancient Greece
To explore and present historical texts which
reference Aspasia
To question how Aspasia, a woman with no
surviving texts, can be included in a history of
rhetoric (while acknowledging that no texts of
Socrates exist either!)
Jarratt and Ong’s Motivating Questions
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“Did Aspasia exist?”
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“If so, can she be known?”
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“And then, is that knowledge communicable?”
(9)
Bizzell and Herzberg’s Motivating Questions
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How can we explain the existence of a
woman such as Aspasia in a Greek society
that limited women to the home?
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Was Aspasia a hetaera when Pericles met
her?
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How plausible is it that a woman could have
possessed the skills that Aspasia did?
Jarratt and Ong’s Methods
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A review of the classic sources
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An overview of the current commentary
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An undertaking of interpretive histiographical
tasks
Bizzell and Herzberg’s Methods
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Presentation and analysis of historical texts
referencing Aspasia
Aspasia in Plato’s Menexenus
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Dialogue between Socrates and Menexenus
Socrates acknowledges that Aspasia was his
teacher and that she composed funeral
orations
The oration attributed to Aspasia is
“exaggerated in style, with just the sorts of
embellishments that Socrates elsewhere
condemns, and full of historical errors that
create an absurdly positive view of Athens.”
(B&H, 58)
Interpreting Plato’s Representation
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Bloedow sees Aspasia as representative of
rhetoric and democracy (J&O, 17)
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Jarratt and Ong look at Aspasia as “at the
intersection of the axes of gender and
colonialism” (J&O, 18)
Gender in Menexenus
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“Reading the literary text against the social
text, we find Plato giving voice to a woman at
a time when women were mostly denied
public voice, and fixed most effectively in the
role of reproduction.” (J&O, 18)
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On one level, Plato seems to expand
conception of female
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Closer reading shows reversal
Gender in Menexenus
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Plato’s attribution of epitaphios to a female
author emphasizes the purpose of women: to
reproduce warriors (J&O, 18)
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Autochthony – the conception that men were
born directly from the soil of Athens
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Aspasia’s oration talks at length about
autochthony—Plato “forc[es] her to testify to
her own devaluation as a female.” (B&H, 58)
Gender in Menexenus
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Jarratt and Ong contend that Plato’s choice
to include Aspasia as author of oration serves
to downplay woman’s power and creativity
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Bizzell and Herzberg present alternative
view— “Other scholars, however propose
that Socrates really did admire Aspasia and
that Plato is doing no more than poking fun at
this admiration.” (58-59)
Colonial Ideology in Menexenus
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Plato emphasizes autochthony
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“True mother” for Athenians (whole) and
“stepmother” for others (fractured)
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Ideology hides unequal power relations
between men and women and the power of
cultural dominance
Colonial Ideology in Menexenus
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“Defining the norm through a polar opposition
wipes out difference within each pole,
differences that, in this case, expose the
relations of production in an imperialist
economy.” (J&O, 21)
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Aspasia represents the “stranger,”
“sojourner,” and “woman” all at once
Questions to Ponder
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Bizzell and Herzberg conclude that
If indeed she did teach Socrates the so-called Socratic
method, her contribution to the history of both philosophy and
rhetoric is far-ranging. At the very least, recognizing her
activity here erects a monument to the rhetorical labors of
Aspasia and other classical women and marks the spot where
a more substantial edifice may be built if the search for textual
remains succeeds. (59)
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Is it necessary for a rhetorician or philosopher to contribute a
“method” or theory in order to be included in history?
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Are textual remains necessary for understanding a person’s role
in history?
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How might we piece together the contributions of women to
Greek rhetoric in light of the fact that few, if any, artifacts have
survived?
Pandora’s Box: The Roles of Women in
Ancient Greece
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Lecturer Ellen B.
Reeder, curator of the
Walters Art Gallery in
Baltimore
Fall of 1995 exhibit with
accompanying
catalogue
Reviews the lives of
Greek women and their
portrayal in art (mostly
pottery)
Aristotle
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384-322 B.C.E.
Born to Greek parents in the Macedonian
town of Stagira around the time Plato opened
the Academy in Athens
Entered Academy at 17 years old
Stayed on as teacher, leaving 20 years later
upon Plato’s death
Sources: Aristotle, pages 169-240 of Bizzell and Herzberg,
Chapter 9: Rhetoric in Greece and Rome, Kennedy
Aristotle’s Rhetorical Theory
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Artistic proofs
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Logos
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Enthymeme
Maxim
Example
Pathos
Ethos
Inartistic proofs
Inventio
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Topoi
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Special group
Common group
Stasis
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Conjectural
Definitional
Quantitative
Translative
Aristotle’s Three Types of Speeches
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Forensic speeches
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Deliberative speeches
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Epideictic or ceremonial speeches
The Five Canons
 Invention
 Arrangement
 Style
 Memory
 Delivery
Aristotle’s Rhetoric
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Never published in Aristotle’s lifetime
Most likely not intended for publication
Began as notes for rhetoric classes in the
Academy
Divided into three books
“‘Published’ (hand-copied) for the first time by
Andronicus of Rhodes” around 83 B.C.E.
First printed edition published in 1475 B.C.E. by
George of Trebizond
Three Books of RHETORIC
Book One: Definition and
Kinds of Rhetoric
Book Two: Kinds of
Proofs
Book Three: Delivery
Questions for Discussion
Rhetoric is a productive knowledge in that it does "
'produce' persuasion, speeches, and texts'; but as a
discipline concerned with " 'seeing' the available
means of persuasion (thus not necessarily of using
them),' rhetoric also maintains a theoretical aspect.
Janet Atwill’s review of Classical Rhetoric : Its Christian and Secular Tradition (U
of North Carolina P, 1980) by George A. Kennedy
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Discussion Prompt : Practical, Theoretical and
Productive aspects of Rhetoric
Epistēmē … Praxis … Poiēsis
Aristotle’s eudaimonia
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Eudaimonia translates as “happiness” or “the
good life”
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For Aristotle, distribution of eudaimonia is not
equal
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Aristotle wrestles over whether eudaimonia is
an activity or a state
Sources: Aristotle and the Boundaries of the Good Life and
Aristotle’s Rhetoric and the Theory/Practice Binary by Janet M. Atwill
Aristotle’s Taxonomy of Knowledge
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Theoretical knowledge
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Philosophy
Metaphysics, math, natural sciences
“Highest knowledge”
Actual knowledge that is identical with its object
Contemplation of the notion of an “end,” or telos
Pursued for no practical or utilitarian end
Aristotle’s Taxonomy of Knowledge
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Practical knowledge
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Study of ethics and politics
Directed toward the end of eudaimonia
Concerned with action and human behavior
Aristotle’s Taxonomy of Knowledge
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Productive knowledge
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Technai of architecture, navigation, medicine, and
rhetoric (?)
Concerned with the contingent or “what can be
otherwise” (173)
Implicated in social and economic exchange
Purposeful knowledge resistant to determinate ends
“Productive knowledge always remains in exchange
because its end is in the user as opposed to the
artistic construct.” (174)
Where does rhetoric fit?
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Atwill argues that it is easy to exclude rhetoric
from theoretical knowledge because such
knowledge is concerned with day-to-day
functions of the state
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It is harder to separate rhetoric from practical
knowledge because that means saying
rhetoric is distinct from ethics and an aim at
the good life (163)
Atwill’s Placement of Rhetoric
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Atwill argues we should place rhetoric in
productive knowledge
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“while it may seem strange to praise rhetoric
for failing either to consist of the highest
knowledge or to be driven by the end of the
“good life,” Aristotle’s greatest contribution to
rhetoric may have been his willingness to
allow it these two failures.” (164)
Theory/Practice Binary
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Atwill states that the greatest barrier to
understanding productive knowledge is the
modern opposition of theory to practice (164)
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This binary causes thought to have only two
forms—theoretical and practical
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Binary then overshadows the triad and
productive knowledge gets left out
The Theory/Practice Binary
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Gayatri Spivak writes in Explanation and
Culture: Marginalia {JAC 10.2 (1990)},
Aristotle’s techne is a “dynamic and
undecidable middle term” between theory and
practice.
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Can writing bridge the binary?
Productive knowledge and rhetoric
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Cope: art must be a form of productive
knowledge, but rhetoric is more of a practical
knowledge
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Lobkowicz: notes that rhetoric is compared to
medicine as a kind of productive knowledge
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Grimaldi: dismisses domain of productive
knowledge and puts rhetoric in theoretical
domain
Grimaldi and Rhetoric as
Theoretical Knowledge
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Rhetoric’s relationship to philosophy
and ethics strongly indebted to
structural linguistics
Enthymeme is the “general method of
reasoning” and unites the three
rhetorical proofs of ethos, pathos and
logos.
Probabilities can be sufficiently rooted
to object reality to make an inference
from eikos.
Aristotle’s 28 koinoi topoi are ways in
which the mind naturally and readily
reasons.
Aristotle’s Application of Criteria
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Aristotle’s definition of rhetoric emphasizes that
rhetorical knowledge is contingent on context,
time, and history (175)
“rhetoric must conform to the key criterion of
productive knowledge—the capacity to be
‘otherwise’” (175)
Aristotle’s triangular relationship between the
speaker, subject and audience makes clear
relationship of rhetoric and productive
knowledge with social exchange
Subjects of Productive Knowledge
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Subjects of productive knowledge are
redefined by their use of techne and act of
social exchange
Techne can never be private property;
therefore, users and makers of techne
cannot be private, stable entities (185)
Subjects exist at point of competition
Productive knowledge crosses boundaries
of knowledge and subjectivity
Robyn’s Journal Comment
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Anyway, I also think this quote contradicts
Kennedy's general belief that rhetoric is
conservative. I guess Atwill is not specifically talking
about rhetoric, but she is saying that rhetoric is a
techne and so it has these features, right? Anyway,
it seems she is saying the opposite of Kennedy: any
techne, including rhetoric, is not in the business of
"securing boundaries," but of "transgression and
renegotiation." Subjects of productive knowledge
are always crossing boundaries, always questioning.
Philosophy: Isocrates v. Aristotle
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Isocrates: emphasizes the organizing power
of philosophy and its ability to help us
understand life; does not separate philosophy
from the art of discourse
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Aristotle: philosophy is a higher order thinking
available when necessities of life are fulfilled;
places rhetoric in the domain of techne rather
than philosophy
Aristotle wins!
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Philosophy has taken Aristotle’s definition
Aristotle’s taxonomy left room for art and
placed rhetoric in the domain of techne rather
than philosophy
Atwill states that “What is lost in the
taxonomy, however, is the sense of the art of
rhetoric as a valued mode of intervention into
existing conditions and a means for the
invention of new possibilities.” (189)
Ideal States: Plato v. Aristotle
Both are confronted with problem of how to
distribute rights, benefits and honors in a
state in which both order and value are
defined by class function. (178)
 For Aristotle, distribution of eudaimonia is not
equal. Aristotle wrestles over whether
eudaimonia is an
activity or a state
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Aristotle and Plato :
School of Athens by
Raphael
Ideal States: Plato v. Aristotle
Plato believes the philosopher/king rules in
ideal republic; compromise state is ruled by
laws
 Aristotle’s ideal is aristocracy; compromise
state is a polity (mixed constitution that gives
political responsibility to the middle class)
 Plato relies on technai to define hierarchy of
state
 Aristotle relies on eudaimonia as basis for
state’s order
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Analyzing Orators
Questions to Guide your Analysis
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What appeals or strategies does the orator
use in their speech to convince their
audience?
What topoi does the orator use?
What type of speech is this, according to
Aristotle’s three types of speeches?
In what ways could the orator strengthen their
speech in Aristotle’s opinion?