e is permanently related to female in this way"(I, 1259 b5-9). Slaves and women have virtues however they are always subordinate to free men. In Politics book one chapter 13, Aristotle makes a distinction between parts of the soul and kinds of virtue. He makes a distinction within the reason. One-part rules and the other is ruled. One part of the soul is deliberative/reasonable, it reasons, draws conclusions. The other is persuadable, the irrational/emotional part of the soul. It is reasonable in the sense that it is persuadable by reasoning, because the emotions are persuadable. Corresponding to the two reasonable parts of the soul there are two sets of virtues: intellectual and moral virtues. Intellectual virtues are of the reasoning ability. Moral virtues are of the persuadable part, the part of the soul that is capable of being influenced by reasoning. Slaves can have only the virtues belonging to the part of the soul that is influenced by reasoning, while women can also have the intellectual virtues, but in a subordinate way. "deliberative part of the soul is entirely missing from a SLAVE; a WOMAN has it but it lacks authority" (I, 1260 a12-13). Aristotle never questions why a woman's deliberative faculty is without authority. He concludes that all human beings including slaves have moral virtue. All free men and women have intellectual virtue. However, in women the moral and intellectual virtues are marked by subordination."It is evident, then, that all those mentioned [i.e. to women, slaves and free men] have virtue of character, and that temperance, courage, and justice are not the same as those of women, as Socrates supposed: the courage is that of a ruler, the other that of an assistant, and similarly in the case of other virtues too" (I, 1260a 20-23). Aristotle accepts the customary subordination of women to men without being able to justify it. Aristotle argues that some should rule and others be ruled. However, this is not ...
