The School of Hypatia and the Problem of the Gendered Soul

Abstract

The main argument of this chapter is a methodological one: it aims to show that reconstructing the philosophical views that circulated within the school of Hypatia of Alexandria is a viable project. After discussing some of the key methods that could be used for accomplishing such a task, this chapter presents a case study to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, a case study of the problem of the gendered soul. The reconstruction of Hypatia’s school’s approach to this well-known Platonic problem shows that the methodology can be employed fruitfully, with a variety of salient points emerging even when addressing a fairly contained, small-scale philosophical puzzle. The final section of this chapter contains the collection of fragments used in the reconstruction and organized according to the proposed methodology, thus showing what a collection of the fragments from the school of Hypatia might look like.