universities consisting exclusively of men, women had an intellectual role only
in devotional religious movements and some of the secular courts. Does this
mean that the history of world philosophy is simply the expression of a male
viewpoint? Until very recently it has been overwhelmingly populated by males;
yet it is hardly possible to lump it into one category as a male viewpoint. The
basic structure of intellectual life is division among rival viewpoints. Maleness
does not predict who will be an idealist or a materialist, rationalist or mystic,
or any of the other lines of demarcation which have existed within philosophy.
Throughout world history, when women have been in the intellectual
attention space it was most often as religious mystics. But mysticism is not a
uniquely female form of thought, and most mystics have been men. The
connection is organizational, not a matter of intrinsic mentalities; mysticism
has been the part of the intellectual field which flourishes best outside of tightly
organized lineages and hence has been most open to outsiders, and thus to
women. The issue is not male and female mentalities, which would be a
reductionist explanation, but social discrimination on the level of the material
base. It is not individuals, whether male or female, let alone of any skin color,
that produce ideas, but the flow of networks through individuals. Historically,
in the times when women had access to the networks at the center of intellec-
tual attention, they filled an array of philosophical positions (Waithe, 1987–
1995). Among the Greeks, the Epicurean materialists were the lineage most
TABLE 2.1.DISTRIBUTION OF PHILOSOPHERS FOR ALL NETWORKS
Civilization Generations Major Secondary
To t a l
important
(major
secondary) Minor TotalChina (535 b.c.e.–
1565 c.e.) 63 25 61 86 356 440
Greece (600 b.c.e.–
600 c.e.) 36 28 68 96 237 330
India (800 b.c.e.–
1800 c.e.) 78 22 53 75 272 350
Japan (600–1935 c.e.) 40 20 36 56 157 210
Islam/Judaism
(700–1600 c.e.) 27 11 41 52 420 470
Christendom
(1000–1600 c.e.) 18 11 46 57 360 420
Europe (1600–1900 ‘ c.e.) 9 19 61 80 350 430
Totals 271 136 366 502 2,152 2,670
Networks across the Generations • 77