Class and Gender

The Perspectivity of Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī’s Ethics in The Nasirean Ethics

Abstract

Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī’s (d. 1274) Akhlāq-e Nāṣerī is, above all, a Persian translation of Miskawayh’s (d. 1030) Tahḏīb al-akhlāq, originally composed in Arabic. Since the latter contained no chapters on economics or politics, Ṭūsī supplemented his translation with two additional chapters. For these, he drew on Fārābī’s Mabādiʾ ārāʾ ahl al-madīna al-fāḍila and Ibn Sīnā’s Kitāb al-siyāsa, incorporating selected passages that he regarded as particularly valuable and worthy of being made accessible to a Persian-speaking readership.

A significant portion of the chapter on economics in Akhlāq-e Nāṣerī focuses on women, their nature, and how they should be treated by men. Although these discussions are drawn from various sources, Ṭūsī organizes them in a way he deems appropriate.

In this article, I will focus on these additional two chapters of Akhlāq-e Nāṣerī with special attention to Ṭūsī’s ideas on womanhood. I will also examine his views on slavery and the status of slaves in his envisioned city. I argue that slaves occupy a comparatively better position in Ṭūsī’s ideal city than women, enjoying a degree of social mobility that allows themto rise within the social hierarchy. In contrast, women are confined to the domestic sphere and subjected to strict control. They are often associated with matter, which must be governed by form, and are therefore portrayed as the source of chaos. If left unchecked, this chaos is seen as a threat to both the moralorderand the broader social structure.