For many centuries women have fought for the right to study, express their own opinion and find their own place in the world.
I do not define myself as a feminist because I believe that modern feminism turns female empowerment into an ideology and a label, instead of dealing with the deeper work: understanding a woman's potential, building character, knowledge, dignity and inner freedom.
Long before our contemporary debates, Greek philosophers were already asking what it meant, for a woman, to become fully what she was capable of being. One of these is the Greek idea of aretē, excellence.
In different Greek philosophical traditions, becoming excellent meant fully developing one's abilities and forming one's character through education, discipline and the practice of virtue. Moral excellence was not simply guaranteed by being born into a particular family or by a title that others could confer. It was a slow achievement, built through the way one thought, chose and lived. When this idea is applied to women, the subject becomes particularly interesting, because some ancient philosophical sources present a conception of femininity much more nuanced than we are used to imagining.
Among these sources, a special place belongs to Phintys' treatise on the temperance of women. Phintys presents virtue as what makes a person worthy of the name and identifies sōphrosynē as a fundamental quality of a woman. The term is generally translated as "temperance", but has a broader meaning: moderation, self-mastery, mental clarity and the ability to maintain order in one's life and passions.
A woman must learn to possess a stable inner centre. Her emotions may be intense, her desires strong, her life full of responsibilities, but her mind must remain capable of governing her actions. Sōphrosynē then becomes a form of inner freedom: the ability not to hand one's life over to every impulse, fear or desire that passes through the mind.
This principle concerns much of Greek reflection on virtue. Wisdom must go together with justice, courage with judgement, strength with discipline. An isolated quality cannot make a complete person. Excellence comes from the harmonious formation of character.
Phintys also includes courage, justice and prudence, together with the virtues of the body and soul. She nevertheless maintains a distinction between what she considers more suited to men and what is more suited to women, clearly reflecting the social structure of the Greek world in which the text was written. Courage and prudence are more proper to men; temperance more proper to women.
The treatise reflects a society in which marriage, the home and the family formed a fundamental part of women's lives. For this reason, in her treatise, she speaks of marital fidelity, care of the home, clothing, going out in public as areas in which a woman exercises her sōphrosynē. Her conception of femininity is tied to these prescribed responsibilities, but the broader principle is that virtue must show itself in everyday life.
A woman demonstrates her character in the way she treats what has been entrusted to her, in the decisions she makes when no one is watching and in her ability to preserve dignity and measure even when it would be easier to let herself be carried away by circumstances.
BEAUTY AND DIGNITY
In the ancient world great value was given to beauty and care of the body. Harmony, beauty, health and proportion were part of many Greek conceptions of order. Even in the education described in the “Laws”, Plato connects physical exercise with health, agility and the beauty of the body, while music contributes to the formation of the soul.
Care of the body, therefore, is not foreign to excellence.
Phintys, however, places limits on adornment: she recommends white and simple garments and rejects luxurious clothes, precious jewellery and cosmetics. A woman can love beauty, dress elegantly, take care of her body and wish to present herself well. None of this contradicts virtue. The question, for ancient philosophy, concerns rather the relationship between appearance and the person who bears it.
Beauty has value when it belongs to the woman; it loses some of that value when she becomes dependent on the judgement her beauty draws.
Sōphrosynē, which we mentioned earlier, can inspire precisely this sense of measure. A woman can be aware of her beauty without building her entire identity upon it. Care of the body and care of the soul can both belong to education, even where philosophers distinguish them sharply, as Plato does in the Phaedo. Care of the body, education of the mind and formation of character belong to the same path.
EDUCATION MEANS BECOMING CAPABLE
The importance of female education becomes particularly evident when we come to Plato.
In the Republic, in Book V, Socrates directly addresses the question of women in the guardian class. His reasoning begins with the nature and abilities of the individual: if a woman possesses the nature needed to carry out a particular task, the fact that she is a woman is not in itself a sufficient reason to prevent her from receiving the education needed for that task. For this reason Plato proposes that women among the guardians receive the same education as men, including physical exercise and the training required by their role in the city. The dialogue nevertheless describes women as generally weaker in the activities under consideration, while recognising that many women surpass many men. This qualification goes beyond a simple observation about average physical strength, but does not exclude capable women from the role of guardian.
Plato, in the “Laws”, returns to the question of female education and takes it in an even more concrete direction. Girls must receive physical education such as gymnastics and horse riding, and he even proposes that they learn military exercises, the use of weapons and the manoeuvres needed to defend the city. The reason is simple: a community that educates only half of its population leaves many of its abilities unused.
This does not mean that modern society is being described, and it would be a mistake to read everything this way. But the principle remains significant: a woman must be educated so that she can develop her abilities. An educated woman who cannot govern her own actions possesses knowledge, but has not yet turned it into wisdom. Philosophy becomes her own when it enters the way she faces life, when it changes her judgement, when it teaches her to recognise what deserves her time and what should instead be let go.
COURAGE, JUSTICE AND INNER STRENGTH
The excellent woman is not described as a fragile creature to be protected. The Greek philosophical tradition knew well the value of strength and courage, and Phintys includes firmness and justice among a woman's qualities. Courage, however, does not mean only facing physical danger. There are forms that require a much quieter strength: standing by a difficult decision, recognising a mistake of our own, giving up something we know is harmful to us, continuing to study when no one encourages us, defending someone weaker and in difficulty, enduring adversity without allowing it to destroy our character. Courage needs wisdom because, without it, it can become recklessness. Justice needs strength because knowing what is right is not enough. For this reason virtue is something built as a whole. A woman must learn to develop different parts of herself and bring them towards a common order.
The strength of the body, the clarity of the mind, the discipline of desire and the firmness of character thus begin to support one another.
LOVE, MARRIAGE AND SELF-MASTERY
Love and desire have enormous power in human life. There is no need to deny this power to recognise its dangers. The question becomes the relationship between desire and judgement: a person capable of governing herself can experience her passions without allowing every impulse to determine her choices.
This is why sōphrosynē is so important in Phintys' thought. A woman must possess enough self-mastery to maintain order in her emotional and sexual life and honour the commitments she has made. In the treatise this is expressed above all through marriage and marital fidelity. The condemnation of adultery is particularly severe, going so far as to invoke divine disapproval and capital punishment; it goes well beyond a general appeal to personal responsibility.
A person's dignity grows when she understands the value of her choices and does not live entirely at the mercy of her impulses. Sexuality is part of life, but should not consume the person who experiences it.
THE HOME AS A RESPONSIBILITY
One thing that belongs to the sphere of responsibility is the care and management of the home.
A home, a family, a profession, a field of study, an art or a project can become places in which character reveals itself. A person's qualities can also be seen in the way she treats what she attends to.
Female excellence, in this area, focuses on developing the mind, the body, the character. Every time we learn something new, our mind grows. Every time we face a difficulty without allowing it to destroy us, we become stronger. Every time we choose with greater clarity, we exercise our freedom. Every time we learn to master an impulse instead of letting ourselves be carried away by it, we build that sōphrosynē.
IS FEMALE EXCELLENCE DIFFERENT FROM MALE EXCELLENCE?
It is important to distinguish between virtues common to both sexes and activities that, belong more properly to one or the other.
Phintys' position is therefore tied to a differentiated conception of roles, but does not deny women the great moral qualities. A woman must possess justice, prudence, firmness and, above all, temperance.
Plato, instead, opens up a broader possibility. In the Republic he argues that men and women who possess the same nature in relation to a particular function should receive the same education for that function. Sexual difference remains real on the physical level, but is not considered sufficient, on its own, to determine what a person is capable of doing. In the “Laws” this idea also appears in physical and military education, so that every capable woman can take part in the defence of the community.
It is here that philosophy stops being merely a collection of ancient texts and becomes a personal practice.
We can read Plato and other great Souls, learn the history of the ancient world and understand these Greek terms. But the true value of all this study emerges when something changes concretely in the way we live.
An excellent woman continues to shape herself. She continues to study, to correct herself, to become clearer in mind and stronger. She knows that dignity does not depend on perfection and that growth takes time. She also knows that kindness towards herself does not mean abandoning discipline; it means having enough respect for her own life to want to cultivate it.
Ancient aretē can be understood in this way: as a call to growth.
Cultivate the mind. Take care of the body. Educate the character. Learn to recognise what deserves your attention. Defend what you love with courage and treat others with justice. Preserve your dignity even when no one recognises it. Let beauty accompany you, without allowing it to become the foundation of your worth. Learn to know your desires and govern them with wisdom.
And above all, continue to become.
Because a woman who studies, disciplines herself, acquires wisdom and patiently builds her character carries with her something that no one can give her and that no one can easily take away: a form of freedom born of having learned.
It is one of the most beautiful lessons we can draw from the women and men who were philosophers in ancient Greece. Excellence is the patient work through which a person becomes ever more fully what she is capable of being.
